Market Open KLCI pauses for a breather

by **Cals** Thu 25 Jul 2013, 10:29

Market Open KLCI pauses for a breather
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Surin Murugiah of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 25 July 2013 09:12

KUALA LUMPUR (July 25): The FBM KLCI paused for a breather in early trade on Thursday, in line with its regional peers.

At 9.10am, the FBM KLCI shed 0.43 points to 1,809.57.

Gainers led losers by 111 to 85, while 144 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 92.07 million shares valued at RM48.59 million.

The top losers included Axis REIT, HDBS, Cahya Mata Sarawak, Perak Corp, Amway, BHIC, Maxis, Hwatai, MNC and KLCC.

Hwang DBS Vickers Research in a market preview Thursday said that after chalking up cumulative gains of 47.1-point or 2.7% since three Mondays ago, the key FBM KLCI could pause for a breather ahead.

On the chart, the benchmark index may slip slightly with the psychological mark of 1,800 likely to be seen as a strong support level at this juncture, it said.

“Overnight on Wall Street, major US equity bellwethers ended between -0.4% and flat as some investors were concerned about premature unwinding of the Federal Reserve bond-purchase program that might kick in as early as Sep this year.

“Against a backdrop of light news flows back home, investors may turn their focus to the on-going corporate reporting season for leads. Last evening, Unisem reported a narrower net loss of RM4.2 million in 2Q13 (versus net losses of RM7.6 million in 2Q12 and RM9.7 million in 1Q13) while Pantech’s latest quarterly earnings came in at RM13.8 million (up 10% y-o-y). Later this evening, it will be big-cap BAT’s turn to announce its Apr-Jun quarterly financial performance,” it said.

Asian stocks retreated from seven-week highs on Thursday as Wall Street buckled under profit-taking pressure, while upbeat U.S. economic news helped the dollar snap a three-day slide, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.4 percent, having closed on Wednesday at its highest since early June. Tokyo's Nikkei dipped 0.2 percent, continuing to find resistance ahead of the 15,000 mark, it said.