Daily Commentaries 19th Jan 07

The bulls continued to dominate the market with the 5th straight day of gains as volume broke the 1.5bn shares mark again. For today, news reports continue to highlight that timber prices are rising while another unconfirmed source mentioned that MRCB is expected to be the contractor for the Bakun undersea cable with Sime Darby acting as the owner. AirAsia added new routes to Penang from KK and Kuching as well as a direct route from Macau to KK and dismissed plans for a private placement. A JV including Salcon Engineering has been awarded a major water project in Sri Lanka and Tanjung Offshore won a RM50m contract from Petronas. Despite the generally positive news flow on the local front, the drop in oil price, which broke below US$50 per barrel briefly, and the concerns on the US technology sector may lead to some profit taking activities on the local front after 5 days of straight gains. Sentiment may well be positive on timber firms and negative on oil & gas players. Support and resistance remain at 1138 and 1150 pts respectively.