Asian markets stage mild rebound >>> KLCI + 6.28 pts 12.30pm 15 May 2009

Asian markets stage a mild rebound in the morning session on May 15, with Hong Kong among the gainers, while at Bursa Malaysia, the firmer crude palm oil (CPO) futures helped to nudge plantation stocks higher.
Blue chips which rose were Tenaga, BCHB, IJM, MISC and KL Kepong but the breadth of the market was not convincing enough as declining stocks beat advancers 408 to 165 with most of the very active stocks – which were penny stocks - on the top 10 list were in the red.

At midday, the KLCI was up 6.28 points to 1,018.27. Turnover was 1.1 billion shares valued at RM775.5 million. There were 165 gainers, 408 losers and 206 stocks unchanged.
Among key Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.8% to 16,845.27, Singapore’s Straits Times Index 1.64% higher at 2,157.01, Japan’s Nikkei 225 1.64% to 9,242.5 and Shanghai’s Composite Index fell 0.31% to 2,631.73.

CPO third month futures rose RM39 to RM2,694 while light crude oil added 12 cents to US$58.74.

BAT rose 25 sen to RM42, Tenaga and BCHB 15 sen each to RM7.40 and RM9 while Shell, Tanjong and MISC rising 10 sen each to RM10.30, RM14.20, RM5.20 and RM8.40 respectively. Among plantations, UMCCA rose 20 sen to RM6.50 and KL Kepong 10 sen to RM11.30.
JAKS rose 3.5 sen to 70 in active trade while Hua An added one sen to 42 sen. However, the other eight on the very active list were in the red. TA-WB, the most active with 82.1 million units done, fell one sen to five sen. Scomi shed 1.5 sen to 71 sen and Talam one sen to 11.5.

Aturmaju was the top loser, down 14.5 sen to 58.5 sen with 2,000 shares done. Magna fell 11 sen to RM2.29 and Bursa 10 sen to RM6.95.
Perwaja, which faces a RM85.8 million suit from Petroliam Nasional Bhd over the power supply payment dispute, lost nine sen to RM1.16.
Unisem, which was downgraded by analysts over its gloomy outlook, lost seven sen to RM1.03.
However, the Unisem management was upbeat about the outlook for the year, despite posting loss of RM23.1 million in the first quarter ended March 31, a stark contrast from the profit of RM23.1 million a year ago.