Affin sees market reacting positively to GST news

Publication: NST

Date of publication: Oct 26, 2013

Section heading: Business Times

Page number: 007

Byline / Author: By Zaidi Isham Ismail

KUALA LUMPUR: THE stock market is expected to strengthen on Monday, riding on the government's proposal to reduce the fiscal budget deficit as announced in the 2014 Budget.

Affin Fund head of investment Amenudden Abd Hadi said the market is positive on the goods and services tax (GST), which will kick off in 2015 at six per cent.

It can potentially bring in more than RM20 billion into the government's coffers.

"The market will react positively to the fact that the GST is coming, as it shows that the government has a firm plan to reduce the deficit," Amenudden said yesterday.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI), however, lost 1.36 points, or 0.07 per cent, yesterday after closing at an all-time high of 1818.93 on Thursday, beating Wednesday's close of 1,814.11.

Actively traded stocks included Hubline, Sumatec, Malaysia Airlines and Censof. Trading volume rose to 1.759 billion shares worth RM1.418 billion, compared with Thursday's 1.52 billion shares worth RM1.657 billion.

Leading movers were Petronas Gas, which added 30 sen to RM23.80; British American Tobacco, which gained 24 sen to RM63.00; Genting, which added 16 sen to RM10.54; and UMW, which increased 14 sen to RM12.68.

Laggers included Petronas Dagangan, which lost 20 sen to RM30.70 and Tenaga Nasional, which eased 13 sen to RM9.37.

JF Apex Securities Bhd said most of the regional peers ended in red as concerns over a repeat of June's credit crunch in China overshadowed gains on Wall Street.