Trading On Bursa Malaysia was quiet on Christmas eve as investors wound down for the holidays. With a holiday-shortened trading next week as well ahead of the New Year, trading will likely remain quiet.

Trading volume shrank to just 384 million shares. The FBM KLCI rose 3.4 points to 1,263.9, mostly due to a late spurt of buying. Market breadth was positive at the close with advancing stocks beating declining ones by a 3-to-2 ratio.

Actively traded stocks include SAAG, Green Packet’s warrants, Axiata, E&O, Talam and PLUS. Major gainers include KPJ, PPB, DiGi and Petra. Losers include Cepco, Hong Leong Financial Group, KFC and Voir.

Property stocks such as E&O and SP Setia saw some marginal gains after the government relaxed the 5% real property gains tax (RPGT) to apply for properties held for under five years, rather than across the board as was earlier announced in the 2010 Budget. The move is welcomed given that there was no major property bubble in Malaysia for over 10 years, and the risks of one forming is small given the relatively low levels of foreign participation in the sector.

There were few overnight leads from Wall Street, which was relatively flat on Wednesday as a rebound in commodity prices and commodity related stocks offset disappointment over a large drop in home sales. The price of gold, crude oil and other commodities rose as the US dollar dropped for the first time in four days after its recent rally against the euro due to Greece’s debt concerns.

US economic data remained patchy. Sales of new homes plunged 11.3% in November to their lowest level since March 2009, in contrast to data a day earlier showing better-than-expected gain of 7.4% in sales of existing homes in November.

The drop was due to the extension of tax credits which gave potential home buyers more time, after they had been boosted due to the earlier November expiry date. The programme has been extended from November 2009 to April 2010. This underscored how reliant Americans have been on government stumulus programmes, which have largely driven the recovery.

Among other data, US personal spending and income both rose in November, but by a lower than expected rate. Personal incomes rose 0.4% — the fastest in four months, helped by higher wages, while spending rose 0.5%.

We would like to wish our readers Happy Holidays, and all best wishes of the Holiday season. — InsiderAsia