DJIA opens the day in GREEN:

12,880.65 +53.16 +0.41%

OMG ... DJIA ends the day with:

12,589.07 -238.42 -1.86%

KLCI has been behavely strangely lately. So it's hard to say ...

DJIA starts the day in GREEN with:

12,605.98 +16.91 +0.13%

DJIA closed the day with:

12,735.31 +146.24 +1.16%

KLCI closes in on 1,500 mark

PETALING JAYA: The KL Composite Index (KLCI) was a whisker away from the critical resistance level of 1,500 points yesterday.

The benchmark index hit a new intra-day peak of 1,498.86 points in the afternoon.

It ended the day 1.92 points up at 1,491.66 following some late profit-taking activity ahead of a public holiday today.

Selling on major banking stocks also helped prevent the local bourse from breaching the 1,500-point level, dealers said.

All is not lost, however, as analysts and fund managers believe that it will only be a "matter of time" before the index reaches 1,500 points and, more importantly, a breakout after that level.

Pacific Mutual Fund Bhd chief executive officer and chief investment officer Michael Auyeong said: "The current momentum is strong.

"The local market has been on a run since the third week of December, very much against the grain of global markets. Volumes have been impressive and market breadth has gotten progressively better."

Auyeong believes that the local market's defensive nature, its domestic-oriented drivers against a backdrop of global uncertainty, and the push in the commodity segment are the main attractions that will continue to drive the market.

"And, of course, at this point is the 'popular' speculation on the timing of general election factor (which is pushing up the index)," he said.

According to him, the 1,500-point level might give the market an excuse to pause and "catch its breath," but technicals suggest a breakout would follow not long after a short respite.

Fortress Capital Asset Management (M) Sdn Bhd associate director, investment Michael Lai said: "At this level, the market is definitely trying to test the 1,500 level. The election play is obvious but healthy commodity prices, loans growth from the banking sector and foreign fund inflows are also helping keep the market robust."

Auyeong warned that while the current run-up in the KLCI had fundamental basis, a wholesale decoupling from global markets might not be so easy to achieve.

"Major overseas markets, which are currently a bit oversold, may experience some short-term technical rebound but there are some critical support levels, which if broken, could lead to significantly more downside in global equities," he said.

In such circumstances, the KLCI's performance might grind to a halt, he said, adding: "Realistically, there are a lot of uncertainties that global investors are grappling with."

Lai advised inventors who wished to go into the market now to "not chase stocks."

"Go into more liquid counters, such as blue-chip firms, which will allow you to exit when you have to, and maybe mid-cap companies which are resource-based."

Credit Suisse country head and head of research Stephen Hagger took a long-term view on the KLCI. "We remain positive on the performance of the local bourse, which is supported by solid pre-election pump-priming measures."

He said the robust growth of plantation-related companies, thanks to firm crude palm oil prices, and continued restructuring of government-linked companies would sustain the market's performance in the longer run.

"The rest of the world looks pretty nasty right now but Malaysia seems all right. It remains our top pick in the region," Hagger said.

Meanwhile, in line with the bullish market trend yesterday, the ringgit climbed to 3.2655 against the US dollar - a fresh 10-year high following buoyant demand for the local unit.

Dealers said the ringgit would remain on an upward momentum, given the weakening greenback and

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...57&sec=business

DJIA starts the day with:

12,636.22 -99.09 -0.78%

This post has been edited by David83: Jan 10 2008, 10:33 PM

DJIA closed the day with:

12,853.09 +117.78 +0.92%

Anybody is interested with KEY ASIC BERHAD (KEY ASIC) IPO?

DJIA closed the week with:

12,606.30 -246.79 -1.92%

KLCI shoots past 1,500 points

PETALING JAYA: The KL Composite Index (KLCI) marched to a fresh high of 1,521.6 points yesterday as talk of impending general elections gained momentum and foreign funds flowed strongly into the local bourse.

The rising tide of foreign funds also propelled the benchmark to break the critical psychological resistance at 1,500 points after five consecutive record-breaking days.

The sharp appreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar pointed to the return of foreign funds to the local bourse. The local currency strengthened to a 10-year high of 3.259 to the dollar yesterday.

Profit taking, however, caused the KLCI to pull back from its intra-day peak and finish at 1,516, up 24.6 points, or 1.6%, compared with Wednesday.

The bullish sentiment stemmed mainly from domestic factors, given the lingering external uncertainties such as a possible slowdown in the US and world economies.

The regional bourses were mostly down yesterday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 364 points, or 1.3%, to 26,867, Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped 23.7 points, or 0.72%, to 3,287, while South Korea's Kospi Index shed 42.5 points, or 2.3%, to 1,1782.

"The current buoyant stock market is largely driven by momentum trades on the back of expectation of an early election,'' Citi Investment Research said in its strategy report yesterday. "The biggest risk is an election that is too early, which may bring an early end to that buoyancy."

The research unit has raised its 12-month target for the KLCI to 1,570 points from 1,542. The new target is only 3.6% off the current level after yesterday's sharp gains.

Citi Investment suggests investors sell cyclical stocks such as construction and property on strength, given that the expected moderation in domestic consumption growth would be the key risks to earnings.

JP Morgan executive director and head of broking, Clement Chew, said Bursa Malaysia looked appealing to foreign investors because the country's relatively more diversified and broad-based economy would help mitigate any adverse impact of external shocks.

"The market is also under-owned by foreigners," he said.

The strengthening ringgit was also a draw for foreign interest. "Investors are always more comfortable with a strengthening currency,'' Chew said.

He said the local bourse consolidated in the second half last year and that made Malaysian stocks attractive in terms of growth, dividend yield, price/earnings ratio and return on equity, compared with regional counters.

Yesterday's buying interest was not confined to plantation stocks, which had been the star performers in recent weeks.

Banking stocks also led yesterday's rally after Citi said it anticipated banks and stockbrokers to be the next area of focus after a strong run in the plantation and telecommunications sectors.

"We also expect the oil and gas sector to draw interest," it said.

Heavyweights Malayan Banking Bhd gained 30 sen to RM12.80, Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd surged 70 sen to RM11.70 while AMMB Holdings Bhd was up 36 sen at RM4.04.

Sime Darby Bhd and DiGi.Com Bhd also lent support to the KLCI, with Sime Darby putting on 50 sen to RM13.30 and DiGi.Com jumping RM1.40 to RM26.

Kurnia Insurans Bhd chief investment officer Pankaj Kumar said that earnings visibility and their growth in the mid-teens were the magnets for investors' money.

He does not foresee any drastic correction in the near term.

"The market may need to take breather, but the momentum is strong enough to sustain the rally, at least until the Chinese New Year," Pankaj said.

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...87&sec=business

KLCI uptrend constructive

ALLOW me to recapitulate what was written on April 10, last year. When Bursa Malaysia's principal indicator, the KL Composite Index (KLCI) surged to a 13-year high and marched steadily towards the pervious "super bull" rally intra-day peak of 1,332.04, established on Jan 5, 1994, StarBiz published a commentary titled Within striking distance, with the sub-head KLCI looks poised to beat the all-time high set in 1994.

The article was supported by analyses of the historical daily bar chart, including mathematical calculations of the previous cycle of major run-ups, concluding that the key index had an upside of at least 1,520 points, going forward. Apparently, we were the earliest, if not the first to come out with such a forecast and the feedback from our regular readers then was very much divided.

Nonetheless, exactly nine months and one day later, we finally saw the benchmark CI breaching the "magical" 1,500-point psychological level with ease to achieve a high of 1,521.56 during intra-day session, also the best ever in Bursa's history before trimming advances to finish at 1,516.22 in the wake of mild profit-taking activity in the afternoon session yesterday.

It has been a long road not without a couple of obvious heart-pumping moments, brought about by yen-carry-trade worries and subprime mortgage woes in the US last year, where the market was nearly beaten to a pulp amid waning investor confidence.

Fortunately, the local bourse was able to absorb the selling pressure and come out nicely to be where it is today.

On record, Bursa had surpassed our estimate upside objective yesterday and it is appropriate we chart the next pathway, as many eager investors certainly want to know where the market is heading before pouring in more of their hard-earned monies into equities.

Truly, this is a different species of bull. Unlike the "super bull" and "tech fever" runs in 1993 and 1998 respectively, where the market surged across the board, the rally this time around appears highly selective and rotational, driven by the blue chips initially, followed by thematic plays in the construction and property sectors, then spilt over to oil and gas-related issues and thereafter, the plantation companies. Elsewhere, most of the second and third liners, darling among retail players, are however, still stuck or under-performed but they are improving lately.

As we can see, the trend is certainly a friend of the big boys with ample liquidity, snapping up quality stocks before others, perhaps betting Malaysia is in the midst of a long-term structural uptrend following the implementation of a string of economic reforms under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Besides the economic reforms, they too see other powerful catalysts at work, such as the setting up of various economic corridors across the country that would subsequently pave the way for a more sustained growth in the future.

Needless to say, they are proven right, as all the measures undertaken by the Government so far helped the stock market. In fact, we believe there may be more restructuring in the pipeline. Whether it is economic or social measures to be implemented by the authorities in the future to face the rapid globalisation, it will surely bode well for equities, going forward.

Turning to the chart topic, the landscape on the screen is equally promising. Bursa basically received a massive boost from the huge inflow of foreign funds, supported further by the local institutional buying interest, thus driving the principal index deeper into the uncharted zones.

Other than the unexpected sharp drop on the two previous occasions mentioned earlier, any pullbacks along the way due to short-term overbought reason were well absorbed, thanks to smart hands.

In other words, the prevailing mid- and long-term trends of the KLCI are constructive. Together with the strong technical signal, particularly from the daily, weekly and monthly moving average convergence/divergence histograms, they suggest that the window for more upswing is wide open but of greater volatility due to persistent worries about the health of the US economy.

To the upside, the clearest probable target that we can identify is the 1,760-point level, which is the extended resistance line of the upward channel prior to the "super bull" rally in 1993. If the energetic bulls are able to find their way, they will arrive safely at their next destination, earlier than our forecast of last quarter of this year or first half of 2009.

However, investors should take note that technical analysis is about possibility and not certainty, although it is a valuable tool and widely used in stock investing.

As for the downside support, while the key index moves higher and higher into the unknown area, it is always best investors apply a trailing exit to avoid being caught in the event of a sudden reversal.

For now, it is safe, as everything looks well and rosy.

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...68&sec=business

DJIA opens the day with:

12,613.78 +7.48 +0.06%

DJIA closed the day with:

12,778.15 +171.85 +1.36%

Citi Cuts Dividend After Posting 4Q Loss

Citi Cuts Dividend After Writing Down $18.1B and Getting $12.5B in Capital From Investors

URL: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080115/earns_citigroup.html

Citi Gets $12.5B Infusion, Posts Loss

Citi Gets $12.5B in Cash, Cuts Dividend As Hefty Writedowns Lead to 4Q Loss

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080115/citigroup.html

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Stocks Tilt Lower; Citigroup in Focus

Stocks Set to Open Lower As Earnings, Data Roll In; Citigroup Has Hefty Write-Down

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080115/wall_street.html

DJIA closed the day with:

12,501.11 -277.04 -2.17%

DJIA closed the day with:

At 4:05PM ET: 12,466.16 34.95 (0.28%)

US concerns dampen KLCI

PETALING JAYA: Stock markets in Asian slumped yesterday as investors backed away from risky investments such as equities amid growing concerns the US economy is moving into a recession.

With the United States still a key market for many export-oriented Asian economies, including Malaysia, a downturn in the world's largest economy would derail worldwide growth, analysts said.

"Asian markets will fall in line with the United States. There is no decoupling of the financial markets,'' Hwang-DBS Investment Management chief investment officer David Ng told Bloomberg yesterday.

Sharp triple-digit losses on Wall Street overnight set the bearish tone for Asian market trading yesterday.

"Weak US retail sales figures and disappointing results from Citigroup Inc exacerbated investors' pessimistic mood,'' OSK Investment Bank wrote in its morning note to clients yesterday.

And, by the end of trading across Asia yesterday, that pessimism was apparent.

The KL Composite Index (KLCI) plunged 52.05 points, or 3.5%, to close at 1,453.66. The benchmark index has fallen for three consecutive days from a record high.

Only four of the 100 KLCI component stocks ended higher, with heavyweights Sime Darby Bhd, Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd all posting double-digit losses.

On the whole, declining stocks outnumbered risers by 824 to 100 on volume of 1.17 billion shares worth RM2.84bil.

Elsewhere, the Hong Kong bourse was the worst hit yesterday, with the Hang Seng Index plunging 5.4% to 24,450 points. It was the index's biggest single-day drop since Sept 11, 2001.

In Singapore, the Straits Times Industrial index fell 3% to 3,058 points.

The two indices have plummeted more than 20% from their respective peaks reached in October last year.

Japan's Nikkei 225 dived 3.4% to 13,504 points, while South Korea's main KOSPI index retreated 2.4% to 1,704 points, and the Australian S&P ASX 200 index fell 2.5% to 5,809 points.

China's Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, which were largely driven by domestic investors, lost more than 2.4% each yesterday.

The turmoil in the US subprime mortgage market had already curbed investors' appetite for risky bets and growing worries that the world's largest economy was slipping into recession would cap the upside potential for stocks in the near term, analysts said.

At yesterday's close, most Asian stock markets were down for the year, except for Bursa (+0.6%) and the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses.

Meanwhile, crude oil futures in New York fell to just above US$90 a barrel yesterday from US$99 at the start of the year.

Gold was traded at below US$890 an ounce, down from a high of US$914 on Monday.

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...03&sec=business

It'll be another bloody day for today.