KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 (Bernama) — The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were lower in early session today, tracking the losses made on the cash market, dealers said.

At 10.10am, the KLCI futures for April 2009 contract fell 3.50 points to 954 and May 2009 lost 5.50 points to 951.

The June 2009 and September 2009 contracts declined 4.50 points each to 946.5 and 933.5, respectively.

A total of 1,571 lots changed hands this morning while open interest stood at 20,252 contracts.

On the cash market, the underlying KLCI lost 7.19 points to 957.98 as at 10.10am today.

– BERNAMA

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It will adopt FTSE global index standard to enhance the quality of the market.

IN these turbulent times, all financial markets are slogging to be more appealing, with the hope of taking full advantage once investor confidence returns and serious dough pours in. Hence, to continue being defensive and to play catch up with regional peers is a losing strategy.
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KUALA LUMPUR: Steady buying interest on Tenaga Nasional Bhd and select banking stocks kept the KL Composite Index inside positive territory at the midday break, as the market heads into its six consecutive days of gains.

Elsewhere in Asia, shares were mixed after China said its economy grew at its slowest pace in the first quarter. In Hong Kong, stocks settled slightly higher at the lunch break, but shares traded in mainland China fell.

The KL Composite index was up 6.13 points, or 0.64% to 962.81. The index had earlier in the morning scaled to a new six months high of 969.93 points.

Market turnover continued to improve, with more than 1.3 billion shares valued about RM820mil changing hands. Advancing stocks outpaced decliners 350 to 247 with 210 counters flat.
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MALAYSIAN fund manager Public Mutual expects gains in Malaysian equities following the government’s massive pump-priming and the central bank furiously cutting interest rates to boost growth.

Public Mutual, the country’s largest private fund management firm by assets, sees buying opportunities in banks, consumer staples as well as cyclical stocks that tend to move up first when the economy recovers, said its CEO Yeoh Kim Hong.

“The local equity market is currently supported by below-trend valuations, easing inflationary pressures, expansionary fiscal and monetary policy,” said Yeoh, who helps manage RM23 billion (US$6.4 billion) at the firm.
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MALAYSIA’S benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index, which rose past 920 to a three-month high yesterday, needs to stay above that level to sustain a week-long rally, according to RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd.

The index faces a “strong test” at 920, which is a “significant technical hurdle as well as the support-turn-resistance Uptrend Line,” RHB Research said in a note today.

“A failure will surely trigger a sharper dip, hence ending the current upsurge.”

The Composite Index rose for a fifth day yesterday, climbing 1.9 per cent to close at 923.77, the highest level since January 7. It gained 6.3 per cent over the five-day rally, marking the longest winning streak since March 23. The measure fell 1 per cent to 915.12 as of 11:28 am local time.
“We maintain our positive medium-term view” on the stock index “as long as it continues to trade above the crucial congestion region of 880 to 890, with a relatively firm daily turnover of 500-600 million shares,” it said. - Bloomberg

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KUALA LUMPUR: Major Asian bourses were up at midday Friday on news that the global economy has sound prospect of recovery as the leaders of major economies agreed on the measures to fight the global recession.

However, the KLCI was marginally down following the release of the external trade data by the statistics department.

Exports for February 2009 fell 15.9% year-on-year, while imports was 27.3% lower. Total trade in February was 21% lower at RM67.2bil, with trade surplus of RM11.97bil.

Month-on-month, exports increased by 3.4%, while imports fell 8.4%.
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