Posted by JASON80 > 2013-01-22 13:37 | Report Abuse

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue chips were battered in early volatile trade on Tuesday on extended selling pressure but mild bargain hunting helped the FBM KLCI erase part of the losses. At midday, the KLCI was down 12.31 points to 1,623.32, but off the early low of 1,602.20. Turnover was 632.30 million shares valued at RM969.43mil. The broader market was steadier, with 167 gainers to 525 losers and 286 counters unchanged. UOB Kay Hian Malaysia Research said following the sharp fall in the KLCI on Monday, where the 30-stock index lost 2.4%, it pointed out that at this stage, while some values are starting to emerge, "we foresee the market trending lower, notwithstanding a potential mild technical rebound as we head towards the Chinese New Year holidays". The research house said investors should remain defensive and the best sectors to seek refuge were the cash-flow defensive and high dividend-yielding sectors like gaming (especially numbers forecast operators, consumer and telecommunication. "These sectors are expected to rebound more quickly. We continue to Overweight the construction sector, as the sector's depressed valuations (despite promising multi-year growths) suggest limited downside," said UOB Kay Hian Research. At midday, consumer stocks were the hardest hit, with Nestle down RM1 to RM59, BAT 88 sen lower at RM58.62 and Dutch Lady 84 sen to RM42.96 while GAB dropped 36 sen to RM16.18. UMW lost 46 sen to RM11.76 and Petronas Gas 28 sen to RM18.22 while among the finance and banking stocks, Public Bank foreign lost 42 sen to RM15.50, HLFG was down 32 sen to RM13.58 and Hong Leong Bank 30 sen to RM14.10.