Asian markets continue downward spiral

By Fintan Ng
KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets continued their downward spiral for a fourth day as lower earnings from Sony Corp and Dell Inc reveal that the economic recovery may be slower than expected.
At midday, the FBM KLCI  was marginally higher at 1,276.98 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained a quarter of a percent to 2,766.35.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 9,454.02 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 0.54% to 22,521.59.
Shanghai’s A share index lost 0.44% to 3,306.02 and Seoul’s Kospi Index was up 0.16% to 1,623.07.

At Bursa Malaysia, 185 counters were up, 327 were down while 247 others were traded unchanged. There were 448 million shares done valued at a total RM615.06 million.

Plantation stocks PPB gained 12 sen to RM15.72, Batu Kawan fell 26 sen to RM10.04 and Chin Tek dropped 10 sen to RM7.30.
Maxis lost 3 sen to RM5.39 and Tanjong advanced 40 sen to RM16.62.
Petronas Gas rose 17 sen to RM9.90, CIMB gained 10 sen to RM13.10 and Supermax rose 15 sen to RM4.07.
Parkson added 12 sen to RM5.28 and BAT fell 28 sen to RM44.80.
Nymex crude oil for immediate delivery gained 30 cents to US$77.76 per barrel.
Crude palm oil for January delivery added RM12 to RM2,383 per tonne.
The ringgit was quoted at 3.393 to the US dollar.
Source : thestar