KUALA LUMPUR: The surge in trading volume on Bursa Malaysia to 2.5 billion units on May 6, with very positive market participation from retailers and some foreign funds, could see the market extending its gains on May 7.
Jupiter Securities Research head Pong Teng Siew said investors had overcome their earlier hesitation yesterday over the US banks stress tests results. The sentiment was underpinned by the firm crude oil and crude palm oil prices and firm regional markets.
“Regardless of what is going to happen, stock markets are looking forward up to six months ahead,” he said.
Can the party go on? Pong said sellers were not going to keep selling while those looking to buy are growing in numbers. An indicator was the broader market, where advancing counters trounced decliners 666 to106.
Pong said since mid-March, foreign funds had been entering the market, including hedge funds. In the meantime, retail investors were also entering in the market as risk appetite for products with higher risks like equities instead of bonds.
“However, we are worried about the huge volume. Maybe, investors should be cautious and buy when the market quiets down,” he said.
The International Monetary Fund yesterday stated Asian economies faced a long recovery ahead from the global slowdown and forceful fiscal measures are needed to lift the region out of the recession quickly.
Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said yesterday she expected this year to likely to be a difficult year for most countries as the world enters the third year of this financial crisis, due to a synchronised recession in the advanced economies.
“For most of the emerging economies however, the full effects of the crisis on their domestic economies will be felt this year,” she said.
Analysts said data which investors should watch out for would be the trade data and whether there has been a recovery in exports. Investors should also monitor the announcements from the US banks about the results from the stress tests.
On the equities front, banks would continue to see investors interest as they are a proxy for the broader economy. Among the stocks which would attract attention include Maybank, BCHB and Public Bank.
Hong Leong Financial Group posted net profit of RM132 million in its third quarter ended March 31 compared with RM133.34 million.Earninsg per share was 12.7 sen compared with 1.8 sen
Hong Leong Bank’s net profit was RM206.5 million compared with RM205.72 million a year ago. EPS was 14.25 sen compared with 14.2 sen.
Unisem was issued an unusual market activity query after its share price surged 30 sen to RM1.20 but the company replied that it was not aware for any reason for the unusual market activity.
Meanwhile, UMW says does not have plans to submit any bid to acquire Ramunia Holdings, refuting a report that it wanted to acquire the latter to strengthen its oil and gas business.
As for steel producers, Southern Steel posted net loss of RM65.47 million in the first quarter ended March 31, a sharp contrast from the net profit of RM96.37 a year ago as a sharp contraction in steel demand and prices weighed on its revenue.
Revenue fell 53% to RM393.6 million from RM838.03 million. Loss per share was 15.6 sen compared with earnings per share of 23 sen.
In Scomi Group, the company had teamed up with ITS Tubular Services (Holdings) Ltd to venture into the sale and rental of drilling equipment, highly specialized fishing tools & services and tubular running services in Asia Pacific region.