Daily Commentaries 22nd Jan 07

Despite the anticipated profit-taking ahead of the weekend, the KLCI held on to its form to close flat. Among notable losers were that of Utusan and NSTP after news of the aborted merger. EON Capital could see further interest following a report that GE is keen on a stake with an indicative offer of RM9 a share. Meanwhile, Proton unveiled cosmetic changes to its Savvy and Waja models whilst indicating fresh models will be introduced by year-end. Other major news includes EON’s possible capital repayment, Scomi Marine's purchase of 7 new deepwater vessels to bank on burgeoning exploration activities and AirAsia highlighting again it has no plans for a share sale to finance aircraft purchases. Oil prices also recovered slightly after falling below US$50 per barrel last Thursday. For today, the market could potentially trade range bound in search of fresh leads with the positive upside coming from expectations of a good set of numbers for Tenaga. Over in the US, investors will continue to be glued to more tech earnings releases and few key economic data to be announced later during the week. Support and resistance levels for the KLCI remain at 1138 and 1150 respectively.