Bursa Malaysia, regional market mostly in positive territory

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia at mid-morning traded in the positive territory, in line with the trend of regional markets. Trading interest in the local stock market rose ahead of the official launch of the government’s Economic Transformation Programme today.

Sentiment was also boosted by the optimistic prospects in the region, especially with China’s next five-year economic plan to boost domestic consumption. On top of that, some feel-good effect also arose after the Group of 20 officials over the weekend pledged to refrain from “competitive devaluation” and to let markets set foreign- exchange values.

The FBM-KLCI at 10.30am today was at 1,493.75, up 3.11 points, with turnover at 314.36 million shares valued at RM234.9mil. There were 334 gainers, 175 losers and 263 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia.

Top gainers at mid-morning were Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, up 44 sen to RM18.94; Southern Acids (M) Bhd, up 27 sen to RM2.97; and Boustead Holdings Bhd, up 26 sen to RM5.92. And counters gaining 20 sen each were Batu Kawan Bhd to RM15.50; British American Tobacco (M) Bhd to RM47; and Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd to RM18.70.

Top losing counters at mid-morning were Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, down 20 sen to RM44. Losing 10 sen each were DFZ Capital Bhd to RM3.52, Far East Holdings Bhd to RM6.70, and Shell Refining Company (Federation Of Malaya) Bhd to RM10.60. Shedding eight sen each were Genting Bhd to RM10.42 and PETRONAS Gas Bhd to RM11.18.

In the region, Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 14.36 points to 3,187.93; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index 195.74 points to 23,713.28; Shanghai’s A share index 4.83 points to 2,979.87; and Seoul’s Kopsi Index 10.12 points to 1,907.43. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 26.91 points to 9,399.80.

Nymex crude oil was quoted at US$82.42 per barrel as at 10.32am. At 10.42am, spot gold was at US$1,338.60 per ounce, up US$10.15 an ounce; while ringgit was quoted at 3.0940 to the US dollar.