KUALA LUMPUR: Markets around the region traded mostly mixed on Tuesday, despite overnight gains on Wall Street and the day marking the end of the first half book-closing period for institutional funds.

There were some positive developments for investors in Malaysia from the Invest Malaysia 2009 conference, which started on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister announced further liberalisation of the economy, including the dismantling of the 30% bumiputra equity requirement post-listing, allowing an increase of foreign shareholding in existing stockbroking companies from 49% to 70%, liberalisation in the ownership of wholesale fund management companies and the de-regulation of Foreign Investment Committee (FIC) guidelines, especially for property transactions and mergers and acquisitions.

The measures are positive and will be well received by the business community and foreign investors. However, investors continue to display an ambivalent attitude towards the stock market. This comes after the strong gains for equities since mid-March, and also with some of the liberalisation measures already speculated by the press in recent days.

Investors globally are also generally unsure whether how long the current correction phase will last, and whether intermittent gains are related to the mid-year book closing exercise. New leads are needed and expectations are much higher now after the rally. As such, investors will continue to assess economic data for signs as to the strength of the recovery.  

The local bourse also followed the trend of most of its regional peers. The KLCI started off with strong gains, but later fell into negative territory and closed 0.6 points lower at 1,075.2 points. Market breadth was negative with declining stocks beating advancing ones by a 3-to-2 margin. Trading volume improved from Monday's low 877 million shares to 1.29 billion shares.

The most actively traded stocks include Time, Talam, Time dotCom, KNM, UEM Land, Tebrau, Ramunia and MRCB. Major gainers include BAT, Top Glove, PPB and SunCity. Losers include Tanjong plc, Nestlé and KPS.

Note: This report is brought to you by Asia Analytica Sdn Bhd, a licensed investment adviser. Please exercise your own judgment or seek professional advice for your specific investment needs. We are not responsible for your investment decisions. Our shareholders, directors and employees may have positions in any of the stocks mentioned.