Kuala Lumpur shares close flat amid security concerns ahead of weekend -
UPDATE 11/08/2006
- Share prices closed flat as speculative gains
made by plantation stocks were offset by last-minute selling driven by
uncertainty over the global security situation after the foiled terrorist
plot in London, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) closed down 0.72 points at 942.
27. For the week, the index closed up 4.34 points or 0.46 pct.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia-30 large cap index was down 13.57 points or 0.22
pct at 6,102.41.
The second board index was down 0.44 points or 0.49 pct at 88.92.
Gainers outnumbered losers 354 to 326, with 345 stocks unchanged.
Trading volume was 620.65 mln shares valued at 687.02 mln rgt.
Dealers said although the foiled bombing attempt at Heathrow airport by
suspected terrorists had affected the day's buying sentiment, the near-term
outlook for the local equity market is likely to be driven more by domestic
leads, such as the upcoming 2007 budget announcement on September 1,
speculative play in the plantation sector, and the central bank's next move
on interest rates.
Gains in plantation stocks showed no signs of abating, they said. Batu
Kawan jumped 4.73 pct or 0.40 rgt to 8.85, United Plantation climbed 0.30
rgt or 3.70 pct to 8.40 and IOI Corp gained 0.20 rgt or 1.23 pct to 16.50.
"We reiterate our positive view on the sector given the promising outlook
and rising demand," Isaac Chow, a plantation sector analyst at HLG
Securities, said in a research note.
He said that after the sector's recent ascent, plantation stocks' prices
now look 'stretched.'
"We see limited upside (for the sector) at current price levels and
advice investors to wait for a price correction before accumulating again,"
he said.
Dealers said that next week, investors will be looking at July consumer
price index (CPI) data and June manufacturing sales figures, which are due
out on August 16 and 17, respectively.
"We expect the July CPI (growth rate) to stay on the same level of 3.9
pct as in June," Sia Ket Ee, an economist at OSK Securities, said.
He also said that the central bank is likely to hold its overnight policy
rate steady in the upcoming monetary policy meeting on August 25.
The equity market will welcome any news of a rate hike pause, he added.
"Our economy has been holding up quite well so far, and we expect the
equity market to reflect these healthy fundamentals -- our house has a
year-end target of 970 points for the benchmark KLCI," Sia said.
Among the key blue chips, Maybank fell 0.20 rgt to 10.70 and Tenaga lost
0.05 rgt to 9.15, while Telekom Malaysia was steady at 9.10 rgt.
Airline stocks were broadly lower after the alleged terrorist plots at
UK airports, which had spread fears to other airports in Europe and the US as
well. Malaysia Airlines fell 0.02 rgt to 2.78, AirAsia was down 0.01 rgt at 1.
33 and Malaysia Airport was down 0.02 rgt at 1.80.
Cycle & Carriage Bintang was sharply higher on its proposed special
dividend payment, rising 1.53 rgt or 62.45 pct to 3.98.
Scomi was lower on profit-taking. The stock closed the day down 0.035 rgt
at 0.995. While MRCB was unchanged at 0.735 rgt.
At the close, the ringgit was quoted at 3.6760/6780 to the dollar,
weakening from yesterday's closing of 3.6605/6620.


For next week...SHOTR KLOFF when reach 940 points...target 900 points...

For CPO market...BULL RUN ahead...target 1750 points...

Regard

Anthony Wong