Written by Joseph Chin
Friday, 19 March 2010 08:16
KUALA LUMPUR: The market is expected to remain cautious on Friday, March 19 in the absence of solid external factors to galvanise investors’ confidence and ahead of the weekend.
On Bursa Malaysia, the FBM KLCI futures closed lower at 1,297 on Thursday while the crude palm oil futures fell nearly RM60 to RM2,565, indicating the cautious sentiment.
On Wall Street, the Dow industrials rose for an eighth consecutive session on Thursday, March 18 lifted by a rise in Boeing's stock.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 45.50 points, or 0.42 percent, to end at 10,779.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dipped 0.38 point, or 0.03 percent, to 1,165.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.19 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 2,391.28.
According to Reuters, the Dow's eight-session winning streak is the longest since an eight-day string of gains that ended Aug. 27, 2009.
Stocks to watch include PROTON HOLDINGS BHD [], S P Setia Bhd, TA ENTERPRISE BHD [], ASTRO ALL ASIA NETWORKS PLC [], HONG LEONG BANK BHD [] and EON CAPITAL BHD [].
Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said the national carmaker needed more time to search for strategic partners.
On the talks with Volkswagen AG (VW), Syed Zainal said discussions were "underway". "There is always hope for Proton. The search for collaboration is always there," he added.
S P Setia posted net profit of RM38.19 million in the first quarter ended Jan 31, 2010, up 22.5% from the RM31.17 million a year ago and this saw the property developer raising the group's sales target by 25% to RM2 billion for the current fiscal year.
Astro and related counters advanced in active trade that more value-enhancing deals could be in the pipeline.
While Hong Leong Bank has yet to make a revised offer to take over EONCap banking assets, four board members of the latter have tendered their resignations, three days after shareholders approved the appointment of an additional seven directors.
TA Enterprise posted net profit of RM12.46 million in its fourth quarter ended Jan 31, 2010 (4QFY10), a sharp reversal from a net loss of RM24.62 million a year earlier, due to higher revenue from its stockbroking and contribution of newly acquired hotels.
