theSun | THURSDAY MARCH 19 2009  19

business KLCI
STI
847.96
1,575.94
6.09
16.91
Nikkei
TSEC
7,972.17
5,047.54
23.04
6.15
Hang Seng 13,117.17 239.08 KOSPI 1,169.95 6.07
SCI 2,334.18 5.59 S&P/ASX200 3,446.30 5.60

market summary

KLCI may hit bottom

MARCH 18, 2009

INDICES CHANGE
FBMEMAS 5,516.28 +48.74
COMPOSITE 847.96 +6.09
INDUSTRIAL 2,057.90 +5.16
CONSUMER PROD 279.78 +1.60

in second half: CIMB

KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur Composite
Index (KLCI) may go down to 700 points in the
second half of this year before staging a mini-rally
by year-end, CIMB private banking co-head Alan
Inn said yesterday.
“The market always acts ahead of the real
economy, so we hope the market will find the
bottom and rally by year-end,” he told reporters
on the sidelines of the CIMB Private Banking
Investment Conference 2009.
“But from then on it will be a bit of bumpy
ride. I am not expecting a bull run even next year,”
he said.
The benchmark index ended the day 6.09
points higher at 847.96.
Inn said it was not impossible for the local
bourse to take a dip from the current level be-
cause the market volume has also fallen a great
deal. “But at the same time, the saving grace is
that we have the government planning to buy up
equities in the market,” he said.
However, Inn said if the global trend indicates
another wave of selldown for whatever reason,
it would be hard to fight it.
“Hopefully, it will not get below 700, although
it is a remote chance at this point of time. The
700-plus level should be the bottom, and hope-
fully there won’t be more bad news from the US,”
he said.
According to Inn, the Malaysian equity market
has not been as badly hit as some of its regional
peers. This was because the country is seen to
be robust partly due its fundamentals, especially
in terms of the banking system and the reserves
which look comparatively better than others, and
with the natural resources that helped bolster
growth, he said.
Inn said the group was forecasting a contrac-
INDUSTRIAL PROD 64.29 +0.32
CONSTRUCTION 163.48 +1.64
TRADING/SERVICES 112.82 +0.49
FINANCE 6,270.10 +101.60
PROPERTIES 498.43 +3.31
PLANTATIONS 4,377.02 +3.39
MINING 241.15 UNCH
tion of 0.5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) FBMSHA 5,893.09 +24.97
this year and a growth of 1.5% next year. FBM2BRD 3,820.53 -22.47
TECHNOLOGY 11.67 -0.07
“Looking at the indications, the economy
should find a bottom this year, with the fiscal TURNOVER VALUE
stimulus kicking in and the interest rate having 343.033mil RM496.622mil
come off a great deal,” he said.
However, Inn said all the fiscal stimulus as
well as borrowing and spending by governments CI takes cue from
worldwide would mean an increase in the debt
level globally.
Wall Street
“What it means is that when the economy SHARE prices on Bursa Malaysia closed
stabilises and growth gets back on track, govern- higher yesterday on follow-through buy-
ments have to perhaps start raising taxes around ing interest on bluechip counters, aided
the world, to find revenue sources to repay the by the rally on Wall Street overnight.
debts,” he said. The benchmark KLCI ended the day
In addition, the stimulus injected will also lead 6.09 points higher at 847.96.
to inflation due to excess liquidity in the market, “The CI maintained its gain supported
Inn said. by both foreign and local institutions and
“Central banks around the world will have strong market sentiment,” dealers said.
to think about withdrawing those liquidity once The KLCI moved between 850.82 and
growth is on track. Otherwise, we run the risk of 846.13 during trade yesterday.
having massive inflation that we have not seen Gainers led losers by 301 to 158 while
before,” he said. 207 counters were unchanged, 579 un-
Inn said it would take a while before Malaysia traded and 31 others suspended.
goes back to the “good old days” of posting 4-5% “There were also some mild profit-
growth and the country needed a new catalyst to taking activities in the market especially
bolster the economy. on lower liners as investors remained
According to him, the biggest risk for Malaysia concerned over the global economic
is in the manufacturing sector and those geared outlook,” a dealer said.
towards exporting. Among the actives, KNM rose half sen
“Americans are huge consumers and their to 35 sen, Resorts fell two sen to RM1.90
economy takes up two-thirds consumption from and Compugates declined half sen to
Asia and the rest of the world. Their need to save 14.5 sen.
means they will consume less and our exports As for the heavyweights, Sime Darby
will probably be sluggish,” he said. closed five sen lower at RM5.50, Tenaga
“If we don’t have a new source of growth, we Nasional rose 10 sen to RM6.05, Maybank
might not see the return of bull market sooner.” advanced six sen to RM4.08 and TM
– Bernama gained two sen to RM3.52. – Bernama

Immunity offer from BSA to from BSA-initiatied enforcement actions when

businesses
PETALING JAYA: Business Software Alliance
(BSA) is offering immunity to companies from
BSA-initiated enforcement actions in exchange
for software audits.
BSA’s senior director of marketing (Asia Pa-
cific) Roland Chan said the 2009 BSA software
audit programme aims to address software
licensing issues among business organisations
in the country.
“Companies which are worried about being at
risk can now do due diligence and gain immunity
they participate in the programme.”
He said the programme encourages com-
panies to conduct an audit of software used
within their premises to ensure all usage of BSA
members’ companies are legal.
Businesses that join the BSA software audit
programme will be offered a one-year moratori-
um from BSA-initiated enforcement for software
piracy ending April 10, 2010.
Additionally, the BSA will not initiate any form
of enforcement during the registration period
between now and April 15, 2009, to allow busi-
nesses to take stock of their software assets.
China cans Coca-Cola bid
for juice-maker
BEIJING: China said yesterday it had rejected
a bid by US soft-drink giant Coca-Cola to
acquire the nation’s top juice-maker, scut-
tling what would been the biggest foreign
takeover of a Chinese company.
The commerce ministry said it would
not allow the US$2.4-billion (RM8.88 billion)
acquisition of Huiyuan because it would have
had “a negative influence on competition”.
“Consumers would have been forced to
accept higher prices and a smaller choice of
products,” the ministry said in a statement,
just days before a deadline for issuing a
verdict on the deal.
It said Coca-Cola had made some adjust-
ments to the planned deal in reaction to the
ministry’s concerns, but the changes had not
been far-reaching enough.
The purchase was seen as a major first
test of how China would apply a new anti-
monopoly law.
Concerns had emerged that the law, in
force since August, would be used to bar
foreign enterprises from key sectors of the
economy. – AFP