KLCI closes higher but struggles to breach 1,470-level

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 16): The FBM KLCI could not sustain much of its
gains on Friday and struggled to breach the 1,470-point level on some
mild profit taking ahead of the weekend.

The FBM KLCI edged up 2.11 points to close at 1,466.22. The index had earlier risen to its intra-day high of

Gainers led losers by 426 to 345, while 313 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.79 billion shares valued at RM1.33 billion.

World stocks rose on Friday after upbeat U.S. data and corporate
results, while concerns over the European banking sector and nervousness
about potential ratings downgrades in European sovereign debt
underpinned German government bonds, according to Reuters.

Surprising resilience in the U.S. economy and corporate sector are
underpinning investor appetite for risky assets into the year end,
although trading is thinning out ahead of a holiday season, it said.

At the regional markets, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.02% to
2,224.84, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 1.43% to 18,285.39, South
Korea’s Kospi up 1.15% to 1,839.96, Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.30% to
6,785.09, Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged up 0.29% to 8,401.72 and Singapore’s
Straits Times Index gained 0.91% to 2,659.22.

On Bursa Malaysia, PBB added 36 sen to RM16.76, KrisAssets was up 26
sen to RM5.88, Public Bank 22 sen to RM13.02, LPI Capital 20 sen to
RM13.40, Warisan 19 sen to RM2.79, Orient and BHIC 17 sen each to RM5.31
and RM3.15, Tasek 16 sen to RM7.86 and Bintulu Port up 15 sen to
RM6.85.

Among the losers, UMW fell 34 sen to RM6.50, Carlsberg down 33 sen to
RM8.66, Southern Acids and Malayan Flour Mills lost 17 sen each to
RM2.15 and RM7.50, while GAB, IOI Corp, Tan Chong and Panasonic lost 10
sen each to RM13.40, RM5.05, RM4.04 and RM19.94 respectively.

Meanwhile, the actives included Wijaya, Kurnia Asia, Proton, JCY, Envair, Astral Supreme, Dialog and Sanichi.