NST Online Business Times : latest

Posted: 12 Dec 2012 06:09 PM PST

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia extended its gains to open higher on the back of bullish regional sentiment, dealers said.

After 31 minutes of trading, the barometer FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.79 points better at 1,653.54 after opening 2.48 points higher at 1,652.53.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the local bourse was likely to come in for a breather after posting seven consecutive days of gains amounting to 42.4 points or 2.6 per cent.

"As such, we think that the index will likely trade sideways today," it said in a research note.

Overnight, key US equity indices closed between flat and -0.3 per cent as optimism about the Federal Reserves' plans to buy more bonds faded, with the attention now returning to the fiscal cliff negotiations taking place in Washington.

"This follows Ben Bernanke's statement that monetary stimulus will not be able to offset the fiscal cliff of automatic tax increases and budget cuts," it added.

Meanwhile, the Finance Index rose 9.68 points to 15,163.53, the Industrial Index slipped 1.96 points to 2,719.18 and the Plantation Index added 22.06 points to 7,987.31.

The Ace Index lost 3.48 points to 4,149.38, the FBMT100 rose 23.14 points to 11,074.72, the FBM Emas garnered 21.76 points to 11,217.62 while the FBM Mid 70
index was 14.91 points better at 12,130.72.

There were 132 gainers and 92 losers while 148 counters were unchanged, 1,268 counters untraded and 29 were suspended.

Volume stood at 110.48 million shares worth RM81.18 million.

Among actives, KBB Resources earned one sen to 53 sen, Nextnation Communication and Ingenuity Consolidated was flat at 10.5 sen and nine sen, respectively, but Tiger Synergy dipped 1.5 sen to 35 sen.

Heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM9.07, CIMB perked one sen to RM7.61, Axiata increased 12 sen to RM6.52 while Sime Darby eased four sen RM9.16. Bernama

'A wild day on Wall Street'

Posted: 12 Dec 2012 04:13 PM PST

NEW YORK: US stocks closed mostly flat Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned politicians to reach a deal to avoid sending economy over the fiscal cliff.

After a surge on the Fed's announcement of more bond purchases to support the sluggish economy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell back to end down 2.99 points (0.02 percent) at 13,245.45, breaking a five-day winning streak.

The S&P 500-stock index edged up 0.64 point (0.04 percent) to 1,428.48, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite fell 8.49 (0.28 percent) to 3,013.81.

"It was a wild day on Wall Street," said Ryan Detrick of Schaeffer's Investment Research.

"We rallied out of the gate after the Fed decision," he said, but after Bernanke's news conference "we saw some strong selling."

As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee held its key interest rate at 0-0.25 percent and announced a new US$45 billion a month bond-purchase program to replace a stock-swap operation that expires at year-end.

But Bernanke put a damper on market enthusiasm when he warned that Congress and the White House needed to urgently find a solution to the fiscal cliff crisis, which could send the economy back into recession next year.

On the Dow, Wal-Mart was the biggest laggard, down 2.8 percent after chief executive Mike Duke said the retail giant's customers were worried about the fiscal cliff and the holiday shopping season was showing "very muted" positive signs.

DuPont rallied 1.4 percent after announcing a US$1 billion share buyback program and updating its 2012 earnings outlook to the high-end of its prior guidance.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought back US$1.2 billion in stock, sending its B shares up 2.4 percent.

On the Nasdaq, heavyweight Apple dropped 0.4 percent. The Wall Street Journal reported the company is working with component suppliers in Asia to test TV set prototypes, suggesting a possible move into the TV market.

Costco Wholesale fell 0.6 percent, after the warehouse club retailer posted first-quarter fiscal earnings that topped Street expectations.

Rare-earth miner Molycorp dived 3.0 percent after the departure of chief Bond prices tumbled. The 10-year US Treasury yield rose to 1.70 percent from 1.65 percent late Tuesday, while the 30-year increased to 2.90 percent from 2.84 percent. -- AFP

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Rabu, 12 Disember 2012

NST Online Business Times : latest

NST Online Business Times : latest

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