Rally May Stall For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering almost 10 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,545-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a lack of catalysts, while concerns over the outlook for interest rates continue to persist. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the financials were capped by weakness from the telecoms and a mixed picture from the plantation stocks.

For the day, the index added 4.34 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 1,544.76 after trading between 1,538.68 and 1,548.46.

Among the actives, Axiata tumbled 1.92 percent, while Celcomdigi retreated 1.45 percent, CIMB Group rallied 0.92 percent, Genting Malaysia and Press Metal both gained 0.38 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and RHB Capital both rose 0.18 percent, Maxis jumped 1.16 percent, Maybank collected 0.73 percent, MISC was up 0.38 percent, MRDIY slumped 0.67 percent, Petronas Chemicals perked 0.15 percent, PPB Group added 0.39 percent, Public Bank fell 0.24 percent, QL Resources surged 2.60 percent, Sime Darby accelerated 1.47 percent, Sime Darby Plantations eased 0.23 percent, Telekom Malaysia sank 0.65 percent, Tenaga Nasional advanced 0.69 percent, YTL Corporation soared 2.40 percent, YTL Power spiked 2.31 percent and Genting, IHH Healthcare, IOI Corporation, Nestle Malaysia and Petronas Dagangan were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains weak as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, finished mixed with a downside bias.

The Dow rose 22.07 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 37,775.38, while the NASDAQ slumped 81.87 points or 0.52 percent to close at 15,601.50 and the S&P 500 sank 11.09 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,011.12.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. However, buying interest waned over the course of the session amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to interest rate worries, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a report showing a considerable acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in April.

Also, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a sharp pullback by existing home sales in the U.S. last month.

Oil futures settled roughly flat on Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and on recent data showing a jump in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $82.73 a barrel, up $0.04 from the previous close.

Closer to home, Malaysia will see Q1 numbers for gross domestic product and March data for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In the previous three months, GDP was up 3.0 percent on year; in February, imports were up 8.4 percent on year and exports fell an annual 0.8 percent for a trade surplus of MYR10.90 billion.