Market on Feb 6

At 10.42am the market is down by 21.71 to 1410.64 in the wake of fresh selling pressure triggered by worries about a recession in the US.

This is Chinese New Year eve and many investors have gone back to home town to celebrate this yearly occasion.

At 5.00 pm, the market is down by 16.41 to 1415.94, risers 144 and losers 304 with 512 million shares traded amounting to 1.3 billion.

Let me quote what SJ securities Sdn Bhd's analyst had to say about the market as follows:

Wall st down 3%, as concerns over slowing growth and recession resurfaced on the service industries contracting at the fastest pace since 2001. The US ISM non manufacturing index January dived to 41.9 from the previous month of 54.4. Coupled with the increase in unemployment on the recent US payrolls December report, it looks like recession. Overall, we think that the US market have stabilised. Bloomberg's survey has found that 64% of companies in the S&P 500 posted earnings that beat analysts' estimates. Lately, the market sentiment has turned vibrant, driven by M&A activities rolled off by the Microsoft's USD 44.6bn bid for Yahoo. Dow at 12265 is on pullback support at the neckline of 12,000, with stronger support at 11,900. Upside target remains at 13222.

Malaysia has mapped out growth Corridors to lift the country to the next stage of progress where the liveihoods of the population will benefit. With the Corridors of development dotting throughout the country, and the roll out of the 9MP over 1-2 decades, there are questions on funding, implementations etc. While these are legitimate questions for mega projects, the laying of the earthworks on the huge RM 12.5bn double tracking rail project, and the second Penang Bridge speak of the credibility of the Malaysian government to deliver on the Vision for Malaysia.