06-05-2008: Listless trading

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on the Bursa Malaysia traded listlessly Monday in the absence of fresh leads. The KL Composite Index fluctuated within a narrow band. Although the benchmark index ended slightly higher, market breadth was in the red for much of the day.

Asian stock markets also traded mixed at the start of the week. The relevant bellwether indices in Hong Kong and Taiwan ended lower, while Singapore and South Korea moved higher.

The current ambivalent trading conditions may persist. A lot of uncertainties remain in the US and global economy. It will probably take a couple of months for a clearer picture to gradually unfold before investors can be sure of where the economy, and stock prices, are next headed.

Market volume on the local bourse stayed on the low side. Few investors are tempted to take up fresh positions given prevailing circumstances. Most are just sitting on the sidelines with a wait and see sentiment. Little over 493 million shares changed hands Monday. Time dotCom was the most actively traded stock.

The KLCI opened in positive territory. The emergence of mild profit taking activities was well absorbed. Although, the benchmark index slipped from the intra-day high, it managed to keep part of the gains to close three points higher at 1,274.6 points.

Malaysia Smelting Corp was the day's biggest gainer. The stock added 50 sen to RM9.00 but volume was thin. Other notable gainers include blue chips Public Bank, Tanjong plc, Dutch Lady Milk Industries, Cycle & Carriage Bintang, KL Kepong, DiGi and KFC.

There were however more losers than gainers for much of the day. At the close, losing counters outnumbered gaining ones by a ratio of about three to two. On the other hand, most of the top losers saw very thin volume. Among the more notable losers were Puncak Niaga, MK Land and SP Setia.