FBMKLCI at 2 year high
Filed Under (Bursa News) by Webmaster on 11-03-2010
Tagged Under : FBMKLCI, palm oil
Strong gains in plantation stocks amid the anticipation of higher crude palm oil prices helped to push the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) to a new two-year high.
On Monday, the CI hit 1,324.22, up 24.44 points from last Friday, and the highest since March 2008.
The FBM KLCI rallied to its new high of 1,328.22 today as sentiment was further supported by overnight gains on Wall Street.
Major contributors to today’s gains were Sime Darby, KL Kepong and IOI Corp.
Jupiter Securities Sdn Bhd’s head of research, Pong Teng Siew said the plantation index weightage was about 20 per cent of the FBM KLCI.
“Plantation stocks are likely to rise further as the outlook for the palm oil industry remains strong,” said Pong.
Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices are trading above RM2,500 per tonne currently.
During the two-day Palm and Lauric Oil Price Outlook conference held recently, an analyst had said CPO futures were likely to trade between RM2,800 per and RM3,200 per tonne in the second half of this year and first-half of 2011.
From March to July, the commodity is expected to fetch between RM2,600 and RM2,800 per tonne as ample stocks would continue to keep prices in check, he said.
During this period, South America is also expected to off-load large soybean oil supplies into the market, he said.
He said the El Nino hot weather will also be a key driver for stronger CPO prices as it is expected to see a reduced production.
Meanwhile, another analyst said the local stock market would continue to do well with the global economy returning to recovery mode, and this will further boost the level of investor confidence.
