FKLI Related News (Tues, Apr 23)

NEW YORK, April 22 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed on Monday as last week's sharp losses brought buyers back to the market and Microsoft Corp shares jumped after an activist investor took a stake in the company. Shares of Caterpillar rose 2.8 percent to $82.71, helping the Dow as the company said a pullback in spending by mining companies was temporary. The stock's gains came despite a lowered 2013 outlook from the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment.

Lifting both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, Microsoft Corp jumped 3.6 percent to $30.83 after CNBC reported that ValueAct Capital had taken a $2 billion stake in the company. The market's bounce followed the S&P 500's worst weekly loss since November and suggested to some market watchers that a much debated market correction has yet to arrive. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 19.66 points, or 0.14 percent, to 14,567.17 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 7.25 points, or 0.47 percent, to 1,562.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 27.50 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 3,233.55.

Last week's market decline came amid signs of slowing growth from China, which also led to a steep drop in commodity prices. Energy and materials shares were among the best performers of the day on the S&P 500, bouncing back from last week's big losses. S&P 500 earnings growth is forecast at 2.2 percent for the first quarter, based on results from 21 percent of the companies and estimates for the rest, Thomson Reuters data showed. That is up from an April 1 forecast of 1.5 percent growth.

Volume was roughly 5.6 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, compared with the average daily closing volume of about 6.4 billion this year. That is a decline from much of last week, when overall volume was higher than normal. It averaged 7.3 billion shares traded for the five sessions. Advancers outpaced decliners by about 17 to 12 on the NYSE and by about 13 to 12 on the Nasdaq.          [Reuters]

Bursa Malaysia finished in positive territory yesterday on late buying interest, dealers said. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 0.4 point to close at 1,706.68 points compared with 1,706.28 points last Friday. Mercury Securities head of research, Edmund Tham, said lack of fresh leads, coupled with the failure of Petronas to privatize MISC Bhd weighed on the market the whole day. Furthermore, he said, the market, which has already rose 100 points in the last two months, was not expected to see another big jump in the near term.          [Bernama]

FKLI spot month contract opened slightly higher this morning at 1,700.50 following gains in the U.S stocks as last week’s sharp losses brought buyers back to the market. Today’s Support and Resistance for FKLI April contract is located around 1,690 and 1,705 respectively.