Daily Commentaries 23rd May 2008

The fall in the market was again somewhat muted at 3.63 pts as compared to the steep overnight drop on the Dow the previous night. Volume was thin below 500m shares and we expect the situation to worsen next week with the school holidays. With oil retreating from record highs, US markets closed slightly positive yesterday and our local bourse may take a cue from this. Nonetheless, we expect the KLCI to remain rangebound still between 1271 and 1305 pts. Key news items include the Government stating that the higher income group will need to pay more for subsidized items soon, including fuel. On the corporate front, PDZ announced it was buying a ship for US$14.3m and Bina Puri will be developing property in Sabah worth RM24.8m. Aside from that, results announcements dominate the newsflow.