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Bursa Malaysia least affected by worries about US interest rates

01:19PM (28-06-2006)

Lower liners and penny stocks shed some gains in active trade in the morning session on June 28, but the decline was relatively milder compared with Asian markets worried about higher US interest rates.

Rimbunan Sawit Bhd, which made its debut on the Main Board, rose 10 sen to RM1.10. It was among the actively traded counters with 8.88 million shares done.

At 12.30am, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 2.26 points to 905.5 and the Second Board Index shed 0.6 of a point to 92.51. The FBM Emas Index fell 15.22 points to 5,908.78.

Turnover shrunk nearly 17% to 187 million shares valued at RM240 million. There were 361 losers, 141 gainers while 262 counters were unchanged.

Major Asian markets fell. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.54% or 223.37 points to 14,938.44, South Korea's KOSPI 1.2% to 1,232.51, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.47% to 15,700.17 and Singapore's Straits Times Index 0.58% to 2,343,99.

Light crude oil for August delivery was at US$72 (RM265.62). The ringgit was quoted at RM3.682 to the US dollar.

Analysts said worries about hikes in US interest rates were overplayed but nevertheless, it did cause concern in Asian markets. Higher interest rates could affecte corporate earnings.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell 10 sen to RM10.50 while Tenaga and Telekom were unchanged at RM9.15 and RM8.95.

Kosmo loan stocks fell 25 sen to RM6.80 but with only 100 shares done. Bursa, Transmile and DiGi fell 10 sen each to RM5.60, RM12.80 and RM10.30 respectively.

MAS, which was reported to receive as much as RM850 million in compensation from the government for giving up bulk of its domestic routes, fell two sen to RM2.68.

Avenue Capital Resources, which was re-listed as ECM Libra Avenue after the merger, fell 19.5 sen to 80.5 sen. The reference price set by Bursa was RM1.

Actively-traded Konsortium Logistik, which is looking at the region to expand its automobile logistics services, rose 5.5 sen to 73.5 sen. Satang Jaya added four sen to RM2.05.

Iris was the most active with 15.36 million shares done. It fell one sen to RM1.15.

Genting was the top gainer, up 20 sen to RM23.60, Fiamma added 13 sen to 94.5 sen while SP Setia gained eight sen to RM3.74. Pos Malaysia rose two sen to RM4.32.

YTL Power rose four sen to RM1.94 after Merrill Lynch initiated a buy on the stock with a 12-month target price of RM2.30.

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