Market Close KLCI pares gains at eleventh hour, up 0.1 %

Market Close KLCI pares gains at eleventh hour, up 0.1 %
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Chong Jin Hun of theedgemalaysia.com
Monday, 05 August 2013 17:12

KUALA LUMPUR (August 5): The FBM KLCI pared gains by some three points within the last 10 minutes of trade to settle for a 2.63-point or 0.1% advance. At 5pm, the KLCI ended at 1,785.14 on gains in stocks like AMMB HOLDINGS BHD [] and PETRONAS DAGANGAN BHD [].

Earlier, the KLCI had risen to an intraday high of 1,788.93 as investors bargain hunted for beaten-down index-linked stocks, fund managers said. This followed a substantial decline in the benchmark last week.

"Investors had taken positions today," a fund manager told theedgemalaysia.com over telephone.

Last Friday, the KLCI settled at 1,782.51 for a week-on-week loss of 25.10 points, or 1.39%. The loss came on Fitch Ratings’ move to downgrade its credit outlook for Malaysia to negative from stable.

Today, Bursa Malaysia saw 1.59 billion shares worth RM1.57 billion changed hands. There were 402 gainers versus 346 decliners.

The top gainers included Petronas Dagangan Bhd and DUTCH LADY MILK INDUSTRIES BHD [].

Leading decliner was NESTLE (M) BHD [] while the most most-active entities included Sona Petroleum Bhd warrants and Iris Corp Bhd.

Abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.44% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.14%.

Nearer to home, Singapore's Straits Times fell 0.51%

Reuters reported that Asian shares were tepid and the U.S. dollar was on the defensive on Monday after data showed U.S. employers slowed their pace of hiring, while the New Zealand dollar tumbled after a food-safety scare affected dairy exports of the country's largest company.

Japan's Nikkei share average fell 1.2 percent while shares in South Korea, Australia and Singapore all slipped, underperforming Wall Street, which ended at record highs on Friday in part helped by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve may delay scaling back its stimulus.

Asian shares ex-Japan eked out small gains, however, helped by Chinese stocks, which benefited from report by China's official Xinhua news agency that China may relax its one-child policy.