Investors stay cautious ahead of trading break

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended the early session slightly lower as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of the start of a long weekend holiday in conjunction with the Lunar New Year.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark index was down 0.42 points to 1,495.8. There were 358 gainers as compared with 303 decliners to indicate a positive broader market.

Trading volume was 1.33 billion shares valued at RM758.84mil.

While the sentiment was sour in US markets following the release of retail data that pointed to growing recessionary risk, Asian markets proved resilient ahead of the closure of major regional markets for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Japan's Nikkei was up 0.3% to 26,490, South Korea's Kospi gained 0.3% to 2,388 and China's composite index added 0.5% to 3,257.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1% to 21,868 while Australia's ASX200 gained 0.2% to 7,450.

On Bursa Malaysia, stocks seeing some pre-holiday cheer included Heineken Malaysia up 46 sen to RM26.80, DKSH rising 11 sen to RM4.57 and F&N gaining eight sen to RM24.02.

MPI rose 30 sen to RM33.40, Hextar Technologies added 20 sne to RM23.86 and TT Vision jumped 11 sen to RM1.31.

FBM KLCI counters seeing buying interest included Maxis up seven sen to RM4.05, Sime Darby Plantation rising six sen to RM4.42 and CIMB gaining six sen to Rm5.75.

Most active stocks were Velesto down 0.5 sen to 20 sen, Ta Win rising 0.5 sen to 6.5 sen and Reach Energy unchanged at six sen.