Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 20): The FBM KLCI pared some of its loss at the midday break today, as Asian shares neared a 20-month top.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 2.56 points to 1,593.25. The index had earlier slipped to a low of 1,591.44.

Losers led gainers by 309 to 250, while 517 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 1.38 billion shares valued at RM730.16 million.

The decliners included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, BLD Plantation Bhd, Scientex Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Hap Seng Plantations Bhd, Public Bank Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd.

The actives included Vortex Consolidated Bhd, Alam Maritim Resources Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd, FoundPac Group Bhd and Bumi Armada Bhd.

The gainers included Pentamaster Corp Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd and Teck Guan Perdana Bhd.

Reuters reported Asian shares neared a 20-month top on Monday as Wall Street extended its run of record peaks on solid US economic data and lashes of liquidity from the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices jumped as oilfields in southwest Libya began shutting down after forces loyal to Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar closed a pipeline, potentially reducing national output to a fraction of its normal level, it said.

Affin Hwang Capital Research said the FBM KLCI gained 7.93 points or 0.5%, to close at 1,595.81 on Friday.

The research house said that overall, immediate short-term bias looks to be slightly towards the upside as the index remains supported above the 1,575 minor support, showing signs of buyers' interest at current levels.

It said technical indicators also weigh more towards a better outlook in the immediate term.

"Not only that, as Chinese New Year is approaching, this may help boost our local market moving through to next week. Hence, if the 1,575 continues to hold strong, we may see the index move higher, possibly towards the immediate resistance around 1,615.

"Nonetheless, investors/traders should take note that if the index breaks below 1,575, bias will switch more towards the downside.

"Anticipate the index to trade sideways with upward bias," it said.

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