07.08.06 :Blue chips extend gains, Kulim at fresh highs

Blue chips extended their gains on continued buying of index-linked stocks including construction and plantation counters on Aug 7, despite the overall cautious market where losers beat gainers three to two.

Kulim was at a nine-year high of RM4.40, up 20 sen and the warrants rose 17 sen to RM2.07 as it played catch-up with other plantation stocks which had rallied in recent weeks. Kulim's net tangible asset per share is RM10.66.

At 12.30pm, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index added 1.46 points to 939.45, off its early high of 942. The FBM Emas rose 1.01 points to 6,099.19 but the Second Board Index fell 0.14 point to 89.96. The KLCI futures for August rose six points to 936.5.

Turnover was 201.61 million shares valued at RM232.37. Losers beat gainers 338 to 235 while 252 counters were unchanged.

Other major markets in Asia were mostly lower except for Singapore. Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 1.47% or 227.47 points to 15,271.71, South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.77% to 1,294.51 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.12% to 16,867.15. However, Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.12% to 2,465.79.

Light crude oil for September delivery remained at high levels, trading at US$75.80.

Analysts said the recent corporate earnings had been quite satisfactory and there were continued buying of plantation and construction stocks.

TA Securities Research said there was still medium-term upside for the market with bargain hunting despite the shallow profit-taking dip last Friday.

It said for this week, a further bullish catalyst would be needed to extend the current up-trend, otherwise another week of range bound trading was anticipated," it said. The immediate resistance is 940 while the support level is 931.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Telekom were unchanged at RM10.70 and RM9.05 while Tenaga lost five sen to RM9.15.

DiGi rose 30 sen to RM12.30, BAT 25 sen to RM42.25, Transmile and KL Kepong 20 sen each to RM12.40 and RM11.20. MISC-F added 15 sen to RM8.30 and the local shares 10 sen to RM8.40.

Gamuda warrants rose 11.5 sen to 81 sen and the shares eight sen to RM3.84. Ranhill added seven sen to RM1.22.

AirAsia rose four sen to RM1.38 in active trade. Iris was the most active with 32.71 million shares. It fell one sen to 60.5 sen.

Pantai, which saw the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation emerging as a substantial shareholder with a 5.01% stake, was untraded at RM2.29.

Landmarks was among the major losers, down 12 sen to RM1.67 on profit taking. It plans to place out 29.53 million new shares at RM1.54.

Tanjong fell 20 sen to RM13.60, Magnum 4D 18 sen to RM2.50 and Resorts 10 sen to RM11.80.