Market Close: KLCI up 0.45%, pares gains after hitting 1,781 pts

Market Close: KLCI up 0.45%, pares gains after hitting 1,781 pts
Written by Kamarul Anwar of theedgemalaysia.com
Monday, 20 May 2013 17:27

KUALA LUMPUR (May 20): The FBM KLCI pared gains minutes before
market close after rising as many as 11.89 points, though the overall
sentiment was generally positive.

At 5 pm, the benchmark closed 7.99 points or 0.45% higher at 1,777.15
points. It was trading within the range of 1,770.95 points and 1,781.05
points.

A total of 2.85 billion shares worth RM2.66 billion were traded on a day
that saw gainers thumped decliners by five-fold, at 845 and 163
respectively.

The KLCI was lifted to the positive territory by UMW Holdings Bhd, UEM
Land Holdings Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd and British American Tobacco (M) Bhd.

SJ Securities senior remisier Goh Kay Chong told theedgemalaysia.com that the local stock market is still on an uptrend.

“We are on a bull-run,” he said.

“Having said that, investors should be careful when it comes to investing. They need to rely on technical charts to get the timing right,” Goh commented.

While the recent announcement of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth was at a lower-than-predicted level of 4.1%, Goh said the country is expected to grow with more projects in the pipeline.

“We are still looking at a full-year growth of 5% of GDP. So the market still has an upside; with investors looking at construction, finance and oil and gas stocks.

“With these blue-chips gaining traction, the second- and third-liners will then also pick up,” said Goh.
Across the exchange, Luster Industries Bhd was the most-traded stock. It was followed by Daya Materials Bhd and Iris Corporation Bhd.

Top gainers included second liners Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd, Naim Holdings Bhd and Deleum Bhd.
Top decliners were Genting Plantations Bhd, Jobstreet Corporation Bhd and KLCC Real Estate Investment Trust.

Other exchanges in the Asia Pacific also closed higher.
Japan’s Nikkei was up 222.69 points or 1.47%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 410.35 points or 1.78%, China’s Shanghai

Composite Index gained 17.61 points or 0.77%, Australia’s ASX 200 was up 28.26 points or 0.55% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 4.22 points or 0.12%.

However, Korea’s Kospi lost 4.38 points or 0.22%.