KL shares higher in early trade

by **hlk** Tue 31 Jan 2012, 10:52

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened higher today on fresh buying
interest despite continued concerns over the Greek debt problem, dealers
said.

After 10 minutes of trading, the FBM KLCI rose 3.03 points to 1,516.58 from yesterday's 1,513.55 close.

The key index opened 3.47 points higher at 1,517.02 this morning.
An
analyst said the local bourse was likely to remain steady as investors
awaited the outcome from the central bank's monetary policy meeting
later today which was expected to keep the overnight policy rate on hold
at 3.00 percent.

"However, there are chances that Bank Negara would lower the rates," he said.

HwangDBS
Vickers Research said today's interest would be on stocks like Malaysia
Airports Holdings which had proposed to raise funds via a private
placement exercise of up to 110 million new shares for gross proceeds of
approximately RM598 million.

"Tenaga Nasional would also attract
investors as its chief executive officer has indicated that he would be
quitting when his contract ends in June this year," it said.

The research house said investors would also be focusing on Malaysian
Pacific Industries which had reported net loss of RM16 million in the
October-December quarter while its share price had jumped 34 per cent
over the last two weeks.

On Bursa Malaysia, the Finance Index
surged 41.99 points to 13,467.08, the Industrial Index climbed 11.82
points to 2,798.24 while the Plantation Index fell 17.36 points to
8,710.63.

The FBM Emas Index added 19.90 points to 10,560.85 and
the FBM Mid 70 Index rose 18.50 points to 12,153.23. The FBM ACE Index
advanced 5.01 points to 4,526.50.

Trading was moderate with 92.36 million shares worth RM41.97 million.

Gainers led losers by 155 to 63 while 151 counters were unchanged, 1,108 untraded and 21 others were suspended.

Among
the volume leaders, The Media Shoppe earned two sen to 46 sen, Jotech
Holdings rose one sen to 15 sen while D.B.E Gurney Resources was flat at
13 sen.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added five sen to
RM8.24, Sime Darby gained one sen to RM9.10 while Petronas Chemicals
eased two sen to RM6.64. -- Bernama