Market Close KLCI loses 0.46%, tracks regional decline

Market Close KLCI loses 0.46%, tracks regional decline
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Kamarul Anwar of theedgemalaysia.com
Tuesday, 11 June 2013 17:47


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KUALA LUMPUR (June 11): The FBM KLCI erased gains to fall 8.23 points or 0.46% to settle at 1,779.57 points. The KLCI had tracked regional losses.

The KLCI hovered in green territory before midday break and reached an intraday high of 1,792.19 points.

It descended immediately after the second bell on losses in BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (M) [] Bhd (BAT), PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD [] (PetDag), HONG LEONG FINANCIAL GROUP BHD [], PPB GROUP BHD [] and PETRONAS GAS BHD [].

Across the bourse, decliners more than doubled gainers, at 598 and 255 respectively. A total of 2.23 billion shares worth RM2.56 billion were traded.

Analysts said investors across Bursa Malaysia took the opportunity to lock in profits amid global economic uncertainty.

RHB Research analyst Mohammad Ashraf Abu Bakar told theedgemalaysia.com that today’s selling pressure was at its strongest since the post-elections rally.

“Many stocks have gone up for the past three to four weeks. It seems like they cannot go higher anymore,” Ashraf said over telephone.

While he projected tomorrow’s market performance to be “not so positive”, Ashraf said profit-taking is inevitable after a good run for the past few weeks.

“Naturally, these profit-taking activities will happen. We’ve had a good run for the past five weeks or so.” he said.

Meanwhile, a fund manager said investors had locked in gains to capitalise on uncertainty brought forth by the US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

Bernanke has hinted that the central bank will cut down on its bond-buying programme. The move is expected to result in an outflow of funds from emerging Asian markets back to the US.

“Some of the investors did overreact (to the scare by the Fed). But investors don’t like uncertainties,” said the fund manager.

Across Bursa Malaysia,the most-active counters were PATIMAS COMPUTERS BHD [], MALAYSIAN AIRLINE SYSTEM BHD [] and MALTON BHD [].

DUTCH LADY MILK INDUSTRIES BHD [] was today’s biggest gainer. It was followed by HARTALEGA HOLDINGS BHD [] and Hong Leong Capital Bhd.

Leading decliners were PetDag, BAT and GUINNESS ANCHOR BHD [].

Many Asia Pacific indices fell. Japan’s Nikkei led the pack when it lost 196.58 points or 1.45%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ceded 260.43 points or 1.2% while South Korea's Kospi fell 12.02 points or 0.62%.

Australia’s ASX 200, however, inched up by 19.36 points or 0.41%.

Chinese markets are closed from Monday to Wednesday.

Reuters reported that the US dollar fell against the yen and Japanese stocks sagged after the Bank of Japan held off from taking fresh steps to curb bond market volatility, while Asian shares hit 2013 lows amid worries over slowing growth in China and continued uncertainty on how long the US stimulus will remain in place.