KUALA LUMPUR: Linear Corp's share price extended its gains in early trade on Thursday, Dec 31 but banks slipped in an otherwise quiet market as trading winds up for the year.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI fell 1.59 points to 1,269.53. Turnover was 109.69 million shares valued at RM100 million. There were 134 gainers, 136 losers and 180 stocks unchanged.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 0.7% higher at 21,654.25 while Singapore's Straits Times Index eased 0.28% to 2,871.69 at 9.46am. Japan was closed.

Light crude oil rose 46 cents to US$79.74 while US spot gold added US$3.2 to US$1,096.10.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said looking at the lacklustre performance of the FBM KLCI on Thursday, which slid 4.1 points, the index would likely continue to trade on thin volumes and within a tight range today amid a dearth of news flows.

"However, there could be some year-end window dressing activities for selected counters. Based on the chart, the immediate support and resistance lines stand at 1,255 and 1,280 respectively," it said.

Overnight on Wall Street, key indices were relatively unchanged again on the back of thin trading interest.

In terms of economic data, the unemployment figure for 3Q09 will be released on Thursday. The 2Q09 unemployment rate improved to 3.6% from 1Q09's 4.0%.

Among consumer stocks, BAT continued to fall, down 32 sen to RM42.36 with 600 shares done, Nestle declined 28 sen to RM32.72 while KFCH shed nine sen to RM7.33. However, trading was very thin.

Proton fell seven sen to RM3.90 after confirming its car scrapping programme - the PROTON Xchange Program - had been discontinued.

MAS fell 11 sen to RM2.80, extending its losses from Wednesday after Japan Airlines' share price plunged.

However, Linear rose 13.5 sen to 71.5 sen with 16.73 million shares done after it secured a massive RM1.6 billion contract.

Rubberex was the top gainer, up 18 sen to RM2.17 with 1.39 million shares done, Rubberex-WA also added 18 sen to 78.5 sen while Rubberex-LA added 10 sen to RM1.21.

Integrax rose seven sen to 87 sen after it inked a deal with Brazil-based Vale International to provide transshipment services for iron ore cargo at its Lekir Bulk Terminal in Manjung, Perak.