KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 15): The main index of Bursa Malaysia pared some of its loss in the mid-morning today as glove makers recovered and advanced.
At 10am, the FBM KLCI was down 0.42 point at 1,635.29. The index earlier slipped to a low of 1,629.33.
Gainers led losers by 389 to 169, while 376 counters traded unchanged. Trading volume was 1.46 billion shares valued at RM933.12 million.
The decliners included Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Duopharma Biotech Bhd, Apex Healthcare Bhd, Cypark Resources Bhd and Maxis Bhd.
The actively traded stocks included XOX Bhd, JCY International Bhd, Metronic Global Bhd, Iris Corp Bhd, Notion VTec Bhd and Rubberex Corp (M) Bhd.
The gainers included KESM Industries Bhd, Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N), Supermax Corp Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Kobay Technology Bhd, Greatech Technology Bhd, Careplus Group Bhd, EITA Resources Bhd and PIE Industrial Bhd.
Reuters said Asian shares rose today, brushing off a late Wall Street dip as expectations of large US stimulus under President-elect Joe Biden shored up sentiment, while oil prices perked up on upbeat Chinese trade figures.
Biden will unveil a US$1.9 trillion (RM7.67 trillion) stimulus package proposal designed to jump-start the economy and speed up the US response to the coronavirus pandemic, officials said yesterday, it reported.
Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd, meanwhile, said it was a tale of two halves on the key index yesterday, with the early day’s gains giving way to renewed selling in the afternoon session that saw it ending the day almost unchanged.
In its daily bulletin today, the research house said after finding stability following clarification of the new movement control order (MCO) and the state of emergency, there were also fewer available catalysts and more market players opted to stay on the sidelines.
As such, it said, trading volume continued to thin, but market breadth was nearly equal.
“After making a decent bounce back to above the 1,600 level, the market appears to have become directionless, awaiting for the latest MCO to be played out as well as for more leads to emerge.
“Meanwhile, an assessment of the impact of the ongoing MCO is still being determined even as the impact on the economy and corporate earnings is likely to be milder vis-à-vis the first MCO last year.
“Consequently, the wait-and-see stance is likely to continue ahead of the weekend, and we see the KLCI trending within a tight range between the 1,630 and 1,645 levels for the time being. The other support and resistance levels are at 1,620 and 1,650 points respectively,” it said.
Inter-Pacific said apart from technology stocks, other broader market and lower-liner stocks are also starting to drift with fewer compelling buying opportunities after many stocks recovered from their recent pullback.
“We also think the mostly sideways trend is likely to take hold with the bout of bargain hunting to be met by profit-taking actions as we think some market players could opt to close out their short-term positions ahead of the weekend,” it said.