Kuala Lumpur shares close flat ahead of central bank policy meeting - UPDATE 25/9/2006
- Share prices closed little changed as investors
shunned any strong trading positions amid a lack of leads and ahead of the
central bank's policy meeting tomorrow, dealers said.
They said even local funds, which had supported select blue chips when
the market was generally weak, chose to stay on the sidelines.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) was up 0.21 points at 965.44.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia 30 large cap index was down 1.15 points at 6,242.
60.
The second board index fell 0.23 points to 83.63.
Trading volume was 408.05 mln shares, valued at 590.43 mln rgt.
Losers outnumbered gainers 363 to 295, with 339 counters unchanged and
316 stocks untraded.
"Market sentiment remained fragile, with technical indicators pointing to
more consolidation in the near term," a local brokerage dealer said.
He said concerns over a slowing global economy further dampened
sentiment, making investors more cautious about making any moves.
"The waning buying interest from local funds in blue chips also helped
inhibit retail investor participation in trading in lower-liners, thus
reducing the trading volume -- which is one of the main factors for a strong
market," he added.
Mayban Securities, in a note to clients, said although crude oil prices
closed lower last week, concerns about US economic growth, as well as the
military coup in Thailand, will continue to affect market sentiment for this
week.
The brokerage said aviation counters such as Malaysia Airlines and
AirAsia may draw some buying interest on any weakness in crude oil prices,
but any gains would be capped by profit-taking in the succeeding sessions as
technical indicators would point to the sector having reached expensive
levels.
Mayban added it still favors blue chips over lower-liners at the moment.
"Choppy trading is to be expected and traders should reduce exposure when
the KLCI trends toward the 970-resistance level," the brokerage said.
Among blue chips, Genting was down 0.20 rgt at 23.60, Telekom Malaysia
was steady at 9.15, and Malayan Banking was flat at 11.30.
Road Builder (Malaysia) Holdings was down 0.03 rgt at 2.61 despite news
that it has won a 348 mln rgt railway contract from the government.
Sime Engineering Services rose 0.01 rgt to 1.45 on a report that the
company may acquire oil-and-gas firm Ramunia Holdings Bhd for 700 mln rgt or
1.20 rgt per share.
Puncak Niaga Holdings fell 0.13 rgt to 2.82 on profit-taking after the
stock rose sharply last week on talk of a capital repayment scheme.
Ramunia Holdings dropped 0.08 rgt to 1.30 on speculation that Sime
Engineering Services Bhd may acquire a 50.8 pct stake in the company for 1.20
rgt per share or for a total of 700 mln rgt.
Scientex Inc was up 0.12 rgt at 2.92 after the company declared a 15 sen
final dividend for the fourth quarter to July.

For tomorow...market is expecting to move up further to 970 points...

For CPO market...maintain downtrend...look for change to rebound...

Regard

Anthony Wong