KL shares mixed on mild selling pressure

BURSA Malaysia ended on a mixed note yesterday on mild selling pressure despite gains on regional markets except Japan's Nikkei, dealers said.

A dealer said most investors will stay on the sidelines until after the general election. "So, the FBM KLCI is actually not going anywhere," he said.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 0.04 point to close at 1,624.14.

Meanwhile, HwangDBS Vickers Research said the key index moved sideways with a slight downward bias in the absence of fresh market developments.

The Plantation Index lost 36.68 points to 7,847.49 and the Industrial Index rose 6.28 points to 2,788.41. The FBM Emas Index rose 11.141 points to 11,052.03, FBMT100 added 10.94 points to 10,906.16 and the FBM Mid 70 Index went up 63.78 points to 12,073.8. The Finance Index rose 29.09 points to 15,041.2 and the FBM ACE Index was 14.83 points higher at 3,959.45.

Advancers led decliners by 349 to 303 with 301 counters unchanged, 713 untraded and 53 others suspended.

Among top gainers, Dutch Lady Milk Industries rose RM1.74 to RM44.40, UMS Holdings increased 59 sen to RM2.56 and United Bintang added 29 sen to 79 sen.

Of the actives, Patimas lost one sen to four sen while The Media Shoppe and Compugates Holdings were down half sen each to 5.5 sen and 8.5 sen respectively.

In heavyweights, Maybank fell two sen to RM9.12, Sime Darby was flat at RM9.17 and Axiata rose one sen to RM6.34.

The FBM KLCI futures contracts ended higher amid a mixed cash market.

February 2013, March 2013 and June 2013 were unchanged at 1,621.5, 1,616.5 and 1,605.5 respectively, while September 2013 rose 2.5 points to 1,600. Turnover fell to 13,024 lots with open interest at 46,583 contracts. Bernama