4th April - Market Close KLCI volatile, ekes out 3-pt gain

Market Close KLCI volatile, ekes out 3-pt gain
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Shalini Kumar of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 04 April 2013 17:32


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KUALA LUMPUR (April 4): The FBM KLCI vacillated between gains and losses today to eke out a 3.06-point or 0.2% gain on cautious pre-election sentiment.

This follows the dissolution of Malaysia's Parliament yesterday to make way for the country's 13th general election.

At 5pm today, the KLCI settled at 1,688.46 points.

The benchmark had earlier risen to its all-time high of 1,700.55 point at 9.08am after reaching an intraday low of 1,678.18 points at 9.04am.

Across Bursa Malaysia, 996.05 million shares worth RM1.8 billion were traded. There were 534 gainers versus 226 decliners.

The top gainer was Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd while the leading decliner was HONG LEONG FINANCIAL GROUP BHD []. The most-active counter was IRM GROUP BHD [].

Analysts said the KLCI had shown unsual trading dynamics as the strong momentum seen in the morning tapered off as the day progressed.

“Today’s market performance was quite unusual.. it started out quite aggressive, then turned quiet during the afternoon and it’s now relatively flat.

"Interest seems to lie in property or mid-cap stocks,” Interpacific Securities head of research Pong Teng Siew told theedgemalaysia.com.

Pong said foreign inflows seem to be tapering off for the moment as there was no aggressive bidding for blue-chips stocks.

He also said there should be an end to fund managers' window-dressing activities by the end of this week.

Investor sentiment is still cautious despite Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak calling for the dissolution of Parliament yesterday as the election date has yet to be announced.

Across the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 2.2% higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.14% while Singpore’s Straits Times declined 0.2%.

According to Reuters, Japanese stocks and government bonds rallied while the yen slipped more than 1% against the dollar and the euro after the Bank of Japan took strong easing steps on Thursday, but other Asian equities fell on worries over the U.S. economy.

The Bank of Japan decided on a radical overhaul of its policy framework on Thursday, shifting its target when setting monetary policy to base money from the current overnight call rate.

The central bank said it will bring forward the timing of open-ended asset buying and extend the duration of government bonds it buys in its easing program.