Plantations lead KLCI higher at midday 20 May 2009 12.30pm

Gains in plantation stocks and key heavyweights pushed the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index to its highest level since Sept 12, 2008 when it rose more than 1.4% at midday on May 20.At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 14.51 points to 1,038.00 with 1.07 billion shares valued at RM1.02 billion changing hands. Gainers beat losers by 298 to 263, while 197 counters traded unchanged.

The KCLI was the best performer among Asian indices as regional markets were mixed this morning with marginal losses at the Hong Kong, China and Singapore bourses. The Hang Seng Index lost 0.35% to 17,482.14; Shanghai's Composite Index fell 0.11% to 2,673.61 while the Straits Times Index slipped 0.02% to 2,259.90.Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.58% to 9.344.28, Taiwan's TAIEX rose 0.52% to 6,690.29, South Korea's Kospi Index up 0.15% to 1,430.36 while Mumbai's Sensitive Index gained 0.32% to 14,347.46.

Light, sweet crude oil rose 36 cents per barrel to US$60.46 in electronic trading as at 12.40pm. At the Bursa Malaysia, the top gainers included PPB Group, BHIC, Maybank, Sime Darby, IOI Corp, Axiata Group, Tenaga, BCHB, KLK and Public Bank.Crude palm oil futures fell RM9 to RM2,675 for July delivery and RM5 to RM2,735 for June delivery at midday. Despite the mild decline on CPO futures, investors were still picking up plantation stocks.

KL Kepong rose 50 sen to RM11.80; PPB 30 sen to RM11.30; Asiatic 20 sen to RM5.40 and Sime 20 sen to RM6.90 and IOI Corp up 14 sen to RM4.62 BHIC added 30 sen to RM3.76, Maybank 25 sen to RM5.30, Axiata 9 sen to RM2.41, Tenaga and BCHB were up 15 sen each to RM7.45 and RM9.05, respectively and Public Bank added 10 sen to RM8.55.

The top loser was Cepco, down 50 sen to RM2.80, followed by TAHPS, down 20 sen to RM3. Others losers included Texchem, down 11 sen to 99 sen, Shell and Panasonic lost 10 sen each to RM10.40 and RM11.10 respectively.

KNM Group was the most active with 51.9 million shares traded. It fell 0.5 sen to 80.5 sen. Other actively traded counters were Ramunia, Saag and Scomi.