KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): The FBM KLCI remained above the 1,800-point level at the midday break on Tuesday, in line with advance at most regional markets, but the local market gains were capped by rather uninspiring fourth quarter 2014 earnings.
At 12.30pm, the local index rose 5.58 points to 1,822.71. The index had earlier risen to its intra-morning high of 1,825.79.
The top gainers on Bursa Malaysia included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Amway (M) Holdings Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, The Nomad Group Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Tasek Corporation Bhd, Warisan TC Holdings Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, LTKM Bhd and Pharmaniahga Holdings Bhd.
The actively traded stocks included Privasia Technologies Bhd, Sanichi Technology Bhd, Wintoni Group Resources Bhd, Nova MSC Bhd, Globaltec Technology Bhd and Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd.
The decliners included Allianz Malaysia Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Boustead Heavy Industries Corporation Bhd, MBM Resources Bhd, SHL Consolidated Bhd, Brahim’s Holdings Bhd and Eastern & Oriental Bhd.
Most Asian stock markets edged higher on Tuesday, bolstered by another record day on Wall Street, while a resurgent yen helped knock the U.S. dollar index off an 11-year high, according to Reuters.
The Australian dollar jumped after the Reserve Bank of Australia held policy steady, confounding investors who had bet it would deliver a back-to-back interest rate cut instead of holding off for a few months to gauge how the economy digested last month's cut, it said.
Kenanga IB Research in a note Tuesday said the recently concluded corporate results season appeared to be better as the “disappointment ratio” had improved to 38% (following a multi-quarter low of 40%) but was still considered uninspiring given the significant earnings adjustments in the previous quarter.
“Generally speaking, most of the sectors delivered either neutral or mixed sets of results.
“The outperformers were Technology and Sin sectors, which managed to deliver better-than-expected performance while Glove, Consumer Retail and Aviation sectors’ results were weaker-than-expected,” it said.