Monday Market is Up

On Monday morning the FBM KLCI is up, perhaps this is due to the the increased of privatisations and acquisitions lately. Stocks on the volume and gainers list certainly reflected this sentiment.

When observe, DRB Hicom Bhd was up on 5 sen to RM1.85 since it was on talks that it has put in a bid for Khazanah Nasional Bhd's 32% stake in Pos Malaysia Bhd.

As for the Auto player MBM Resources Bhd, it was also up 22 sen to RM3.45 on talks of a possible tie up.

Meanwhile in the wake of stronger November loan data, the People's Bank Of China (PBOC) hiked the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 0.5% points, bringing the ratio for big banks to 18.5% and for mid- and small-sized banks to 15%, effective from Dec 20.

Given the strong loan growth in November and rising inflation pressure, the RRR hike was expected. Some analysts believe the PBOC will raise the RRR 2 to 3 times and hike interest rates 3 to 4 times by the end of 2011.

In the US. consumer confidence, as measured by the Thomson Reuters-University of Michigan survey, grew at a faster pace than expected, giving retailers encouragement as the holiday retail season carries on. The survey reached 74.2, its highest level since Jun and third highest since early 2008, before the housing bubble tipped the economy into recession.

At 10.33am, the FBM KLCI was up 3.51 points to 1,510.79. There were a total of 302 gainers and 196 losers with 219 stocks unchanged.