Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 1): The FBM KLCI notched up limited gains at the midday break today as decliners overtook advancers, against the backdrop of mixed regional markets.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 1.07 points to 1,794.22. The index had earlier risen to its intra-morning high of 1,797.85.

The gainers included Apex Healthcare Bhd, Hong Leong Industries Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Batu Kawan Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, QL Resources Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd and Allianz Malaysia Bhd.

The actives included Sapura Energy Bhd, Sumatec Resources Bhd, Green Packet Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Reach Energy Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd, Ikhmas Jaya Group Bhd, NetX Holdings Bhd and Kronologi Asia Bhd.

The losers included Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Ajinomoto (M) Bhd, Gamuda Bhd, Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd, Tasek Corp Bhd, Scientex Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd and Astino Bhd.

Stocks in Asia kicked off the final quarter in muted fashion, in a holiday-affected start to the week. Volumes are likely to be thin Monday, with Labor Day in Australia, Hong Kong's market shut and China's closed through Oct 7, according to Bloomberg.

Japan's two main equity benchmarks opened mixed, while holiday-hit Australian stocks started with small losses, and Korea's benchmark was up. S&P 500 Index futures climbed after the benchmark saw the best quarter since 2013. Oil extended gains on concern of an impending supply crunch. US 10-year Treasury yields ticked higher, to 3.07%. The Canadian dollar rose as the US and Canada engaged in last-minute negotiations to update Nafta by Sunday's deadline, it said.

Kenanga IB Research said Asian stock markets ended the week mostly stronger after experiencing a turbulent week as investors seemingly growing optimistic towards the market.

It said bucking the trend, the FBM KLCI fell 5.49 points (-0.31%) to close at 1,793.15, recording a week-on-week loss of 0.9%.

"Chart-wise, underlying uptrend looks to be still intact. However, the index is still trending below the 20-day SMA, possibly indicating some downside movement.

"Nonetheless, we expect the index to hold at support levels 1,790 (S1) and 1,765 (S2), close to its 100-day SMA, which has proven to be a fairly resilient support.

"Meanwhile, resistance can be found at 1,825 (R1) and 1,865 (R2)," it said.

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