Stocks on the Bursa Malaysia drifted mostly sideways in lacklustre trading on Thursday, Nov 19. There were few leads from the US market overnight while equity markets in the region traded mixed.

The FBM KLCI moved in and out of positive territory in directionless trade before closing just marginally higher at 1,276.7.

The long-awaited debut of Maxis failed to spur interest in the local bourse. However, most believe that the re-listing of Malaysia’s largest cellular operator will boost market liquidity and generate greater interest from foreign investors over the longer term.

Maxis was the most actively traded stock for the day, accounting for almost 23% of total market volume. The stock closed at RM5.42, or 8.4% above its institutional price of RM5. It was the top gainer for the day.

Over 1.35 billion shares were traded Thursday. Investor interest was firmly focused on two counters. Aside from Maxis, the second most actively traded counter was the loan rights for Scomi, which ended the day down 40% at 1.5 sen. The stock accounted for 17% of total market volume for the day.

Market breadth was negative for the better part of the day. At the close, losing stocks outpaced gaining ones by a ratio of roughly two to one.

We expect investors to stay cautious in the near term. Having chalked up huge gains since the rally started in March, markets are looking for more concrete evidence on a global economic recovery. But recent economic data has been mixed. In addition to rising unemployment in the US, the latest numbers show an unexpected 10.2% contraction in housing starts and a 4% drop in building permits.

Elsewhere, commodities stayed strong on persistent concerns over the value of the greenback. Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange hovered just under US$80 a barrel while gold is trading not much below its all-time record high of US$1,153 an ounce.