KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 20): The FBM KLCI remained lacklustre at mid-morning today, but maintained its 1,710-point level in line with the dip at most regional markets.
At 10am, the FBM KLCI was down 2.69 points to 1,715.51.
The top losers included Guinness Anchor Bhd, APM Automotive Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, NCB Holdings Bhd, Scientex Bhd, Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd, Time Dotcom Bhd, Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, Lafarge Malaysia Bhd, CIMB Group Malaysia Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd.
The actives included 1 Utopia Bhd, The Media Shoppe Bhd, AirAsia Bhd, Instacom Group Bhd, V.S. Industry Bhd, Privasia Tchnology Bhd and China Automobile Parts Holdings Bhd.
The top gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, Top Glove Corporation Bhd, Gamuda Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd, Magni-Tech Industries Bhd and Far East Corporation Bhd.
Asian equities dipped early on Tuesday after commodity prices slid in wake of China growth woes and dampened risk sentiment, while the euro hovered near a 10-day low ahead of a European Central Bank meeting that could open the door for more monetary easing, according to Reuters.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.3%. Australian stocks lost 0.2% as worries about China weighed on mining and energy stocks following Monday's China GDP data, it said.
Hong Leong IB Research said all eyes will focus on the tabling of Malaysia Budget 2016 on Oct 23 on the back of challenging domestic and international headwinds.
“We expect the FBM KLCI to take a breather after [it] posted 10th consecutive gains of 89.4 points and rebounded 215 points or 14.3% from a low of 1,503 on Aug 24 to 1,718 on Oct 19, given the overbought daily indicators and recent weaknesses in US dollar to ringgit and crude oil prices.
“Key upside hurdles are 1,729–1,741 while supports fall on 1,687–1,700,” it said.
(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)