Penny stocks see heavy trade, broader market firm

by **hlk** Fri 10 Feb 2012, 19:29

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 10): The two-day rally on Bursa Malaysia took a breather on Friday, with the FBM KLCI slightly in the
red but the broader market displayed some resilience, with heavy trading in penny stocks.
At 12.30pm, the KLCI was down 1.96 points or 0.13% to 1,563.36, which was line with the cautious key regional markets.
Turnover was 1.96 billion shares valued at RM1.30 billion. Advancers led decliners 503 to 297 while 344 stocks were
unchanged.
All the major regional markets fell, except Shanghai’s Composite Index which edged up 0.36% to 2,357.98.
Japan’s Nikkei 225fell 0.22% to 8,982, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index 0.58% to 10,888.60, Taiwan’s Taiex 0.6% to 7,863.49,
South Korea’s Kospi 0.88% to 1,996.87 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index 0.27% to 2,973.
US light crude oil fell 33 cents to US$99.51. Brent crude slipped from a six-month high towards US$118 a barrel.
Market sentiment could have been affected by investors’ concerned about prospects of restructuring Greece's debt and
global lenders demanded more steps even after it struck a long-awaited deal on fiscal reforms.
Reuters reported that Greek political leaders clinched a deal on severe austerity measures and reforms indispensable for a
second international bailout in two years, but the country's lenders sought a parliamentary seal of approval before providing
any aid.
At Bursa Malaysia, traders were quick to cash out the Selangor related counters after the rally petered out in the absence of
any significant news. Puncak Niaga fell 17 sen to RM1.72 with 15.63 million shares done, KP 11 sen to RM1.28, KHSB nine
sen to 69 sen and JAKS 5.5 sen lower at 66.5 sen.
Among the index-linked stocks, Genting fell 16 sen to RM10.30, IOI Corp 12 sen to RM5.48, Tenaga 11 sen to RM6.19, HL
Bank eight sen to RM11.50 and Sime Darby two sen to RM9.68.
The top 10 most active counters were penny stocks. Metronic Global was the most active, with 82.74 million shares done, up
0.5 sen to eight sen.
Maybank rose four sen to RM8.51, Public Bank two sen to RM13.98 while MMHE was the top performer among the index
stocks, registering a 13 sen gain to RM5.50.