Buyers slowly making comeback to Bursa

PETALING JAYA: Buyers slowly trickled into Bursa Malaysia once again following the aftermath of the recent global stock market plunge.

While it is a positive sign that buyers are coming back, dealers noted that sentiment was still fragile at this juncture and time would tell if it completely recovers.

Some investors are still looking for clues on the exaggerated plunge in risk asset prices and a corresponding jump in the Volatility Index just a few days ago, while there are opportunists who are taking their buying cues from the cheaper valuations amid a stronger economic outlook presently.

“Some of us investors are still holding up hopes for a traditional Chinese New Year stock market rally. That could be why Asian markets rose yesterday ahead of the Lunar New Year in spite of the weaker close in the United States,” he said.

Yesterday’s market action saw the benchmark FBM KLCI rising by 0.15% or 2.76 points to 1,839.44.

Some 2.05 billion shares worth some RM2.09bil changed hands with 140,697 total number of trades.

Market breadth was positive with 577 gainers against 365 losers, while 375 counters were unchanged with 541 stocks untraded.

Most stocks that constitute the FBM KLCI rose while the losers on the index were Petronas Dagangan Bhd that declined 12 sen to RM24.52, Genting Malaysia Bhd losing 11 sen to RM5.34 and Genting Bhd declining four sen to RM9.

Active stocks included PDZ Holdings Bhd and its warrants, which rose 6.25% to 8.5 sen and 14.29% to four sen, respectively, at its close while PUC Bhd was unchanged at its close at 24 sen.

Action in the local markets was closely linked to sentiment overseas, following the aftermath of the stock plunge.

A day after the strong 2.33% rebound on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearly flat, losing 0.08% or 19.42 points to 24,893.35 at Wednesday’s close.

The Nasdaq lost 0.9% to 7,051.98 while the S&P 500 declined 0.5% to 2,681.66.

Major markets in Asia were mostly positive with the exception of China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange Index that fell by 1.42% or 47.11 points to 3,262.15 at press time. Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 1.16% to 3,423.17, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.13% to 21,890.86.