By ADELINE PAUL RAJ
Published btimes.com.my: 2012/01/26
THE water dragon's attempts to spit fire into the stock market were snuffed out early, leaving the market to close the first trading day of the lunar calendar on a negative note.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) started the day with gains of as much as 0.3 per cent before profit-taking on certain banking and oil-and-gas heavyweights reversed the gains.
The index closed at 1,519.76 points, down by 2.9 points or 0.2 per cent from last Friday.
The market was closed on Monday and Tuesday this week for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Some 1.3 billion shares worth about RM1.5 billion changed hands, with volumes almost a fifth lower than previously.
However, market breadth was positive, with 389 gainers against 315 losers, 296 counters unchanged and 473 others not traded.
Analysts and dealers said the poor performance was not unexpected, given that many in the investment community were still away for the festive holdidays.
They anticipate a quiet market for the rest of the week because of that, and continued concerns about Europe's debt crisis.
As at press time, there was a stalemate on Greek debt talks.
In the US, the Federal Open Market Committee starts a two-day meeting today where it is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 0.25 per cent.
It will also kick off a new practice of announcing interest rate projections.
"There could be some local maintenance of the index and index components but in the medium to longer term, the FBM KLCI could face yet another quiet but very challenging year ahead.
"Trade cautiously with a short-term time frame, in view of potentially negative news on Europe and their debt situation. Locally, we expect a quiet market after the Chinese New Year holidays this week though," said Lee Cheng Hooi, head of retail research at Maybank Investment Bank Research.
Markets were still closed yesterday in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for the holidays.
The only gainer in Southeast Asia was Singapore, which rose by 1.5 per cent to 2,891.64.
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