More losers than gainers; KLCI almost flat at mid-day 12.30PM 26 mAY 2009

More stocks on Bursa Malaysia succumbed to selling pressure as the number of losers to gainers were 308 to 243 while 212 counters were unchanged. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index, meanwhile, was almost flat with 0.95 point higher at 1,054.1 points before the market closed for mid-day break.

Penny stocks were on the top volume list, with the exception of Resorts World Bhd, which was slightly up by 1 sen to RM2.80, off its intraday high of RM2.89. Its parent Genting Bhd, in contrast, lost 10 sen to RM5.45 on profit taking after the recent rally.

Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd rose 3 sen RM1.37 after it was reported yesterday that it planned to build office towers worth RM1.8bil at Kuala Lumpur Sentral. Alam Maritim’s share price improved by 10 sen to RM1.32 following its improved quarterly performance. Among the big caps, Malayan Banking Bhd gained 15 sen to RM5.30 while Tenaga Nasional Bhd dropped 10 sen to RM7.65.
Fima Corporation was the top gainer at midday and added 33 sen to RM2.55; Nestle rose 25 sen to RM30, LPI Capital was up 20 sen RM10.30 while Amway, F&N and Maybank gained 15 sen each to RM7.40, RM9.10 and RM5.30.

Milux Corporation gained 13 sen to RM1.19; CN Asia Corp, Allianz and Sunway City added 12 sen each to 25 sen, RM4 and RM2.68, respectively.

Hong Leong Industries was among the top losers today and fell 40 sen to RM3.60; Batu Kawan fell 15 sen to RM8.75, Glenealy and Sitt Tatt down 12 sen each to RM3.66 and 53 sen.Meanwhile, Kulim, Shell, KLK and Tenaga lost 10 sen each to RM6.20, RM10.50, RM11.90 and RM7.65, respectively.Mulpha shares and warrants were the most actively traded counters today; Mulpha-WA added one sen to 14 sen with 37.85 million traded while Mulpha added one sen to 54.5 sen with 36.2 million shares traded.Other actively traded stocks included Scomi, KNM, Ramunia, Saag, MRCB and Resorts.

Meanwhile, the Second Finance Minister indicated today that the country’s economy was likely to slip further than expected this year but should be heading for a positive growth in 2010.

The Government’s earlier gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2009 was between 1% growth to a contraction of 1%. Bank Negara is anticipated to release the first quarter GDP tomorrow.