KL shares easier in early trade

Sare prices on Bursa Malaysia got off to a subdued start on heightened uncertainty over the US debt crisis, dealers said.

At
9.20am, the underlying FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down 0.89 of a
point to 1,564.17 after opening 0.4 points better at 1,565.46.

HwangDBS Vickers Research anticipated selling pressure to return to cause trouble on equity markets across the region today.

"Essentially, sentiment could be hit as the US debt ceiling remained stalemate.




"Reflecting the uncertainty, the Dow Jones Industrial Average September
futures contract dropped to a 163-points discount to the spot rate this
morning," it said in a research note today.

Bursa Malaysia's
Finance Index was down 31.02 points at 14,780.11 but the Plantation
Index was up 10.46 points at 7,708.57 and the Industrial Index gained
5.14 points to 2,873.04.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Emas Index
dropped 9.93 points to 10,756.49, the Malaysia Mid 70 Index dwindled
25.67 points to 11,802.93 and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Ace Index eased
2.33 points to 4,167.78.

Losers outpaced gainers 153 to 88 while 119 counters were unchanged, 1,139 untraded with 27 others remained suspended.

A total of 95.490 million shares worth RM55.475 million were traded.

Hibiscus
Petroleum Bhd, which made its debut on the Main Market today, opened at
54 sen, for a 21 sen discount over its initial price offering of 75
sen. At 9.20am, Hibiscus stood at 55 sen.

Among active stocks,
Hibiscus Petroleum-WA earned two sen to 14.5 sen, Ingenuity Solutions
and Jotech Holdings were each half-a-sen better at nine sen and 15.5
sen, respectively.

For heavyweights, Maybank lost one sen to
RM8.82, CIMB dropped three sen to RM8.50, Petronas Chemical was
unchanged at RM7.04 and Sime Darby earned one sen to RM9.21 -- Bernama