FKLI Related News ( Tues, Mar 12)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street rose modestly on Monday, lifting the Dow to another record and giving the S&P 500 its seventh straight advance as early weakness enticed buyers. The gains briefly lifted the benchmark S&P 500 index to its highest intraday level since October 2007. With the slight advance, U.S. stocks continued last week's rally with the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) ending at a record closing high, up 50.22 points, or 0.35 percent, at 14,447.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) rose 5.04 points, or 0.32 percent, to 1,556.22, just below its record closing high of 1,565.15 reached on October 9, 2007.

Meanwhile, Wall Street's "fear gauge" closed at its lowest level since February 2007, suggesting investors were not spooked by Monday's brief pullback, despite expectations by many investors that a correction may be looming. The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX), known as the VIX, dropped 8.2 percent to 11.56. U.S. equities have rallied since the start of the year, helped by signs of improvement in the economy and the support of equities by the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program. These factors have contained recent pullbacks as investors have used them as a buying opportunity.

But volume was light, with about 5.39 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq, below the daily average of 6.47 billion, suggesting the rally may be losing steam. Wall Street had traded slightly lower earlier in the day as Italy's credit downgrade and disappointing Chinese economic data gave investors a reason to pause. Earlier in the session, the Dow reached another lifetime intraday high, rising as high as 14,448.06.

Boeing Co (BA.N) rose to $83.03, its highest level since May 2008, after the U.S. aircraft manufacturer said strong demand was prompting it to increase its production rates of commercial planes. The stock, which rose 2 percent to $82.94 at the close, was the Dow's biggest percentage gainer. Boeing also gave the biggest boost to the Dow in Monday's session. 

The U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry (BBRY.O) (BB.TO) surged 14.1 percent to $14.90 after AT&T (T.N) said it will start selling the company's new BlackBerry Z10 touchscreen smartphone in the United States on March 22. Dell Inc (DELL.O) has agreed to give Carl Icahn a closer look at its books less than a week after the activist investor joined a growing chorus of opposition to founder Michael Dell's plan to take the world's No. 3 personal computer maker private. Dell shares gained 1.5 percent to $14.37, above the take-private offer price of $13.65.

Brent crude oil prices fell on Monday, pressured by disappointing economic data from world No. 2 oil consumer China, while technical support and a dollar pullback limited losses and helped U.S. crude settle slightly higher. A number of commodities were higher for a second straight session on Monday on hopes that a recovering U.S. economy will lead to better demand, while coffee, sugar and corn rallied on worries about harsh weather and supply tightness.

Stocks on Bursa Malaysia rebounded in the afternoon session to close higher yesterday lifted by gains mostly in banking stocks. FKLI spot month opened higher this morning at 1666.50 as the Dow Jones rose to another record high. Today’s Support and Resistance for March contract is located around 1,650 and 1,670 respectively.