Little Movement Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market turned lower again on Wednesday, one day after ending the three-day slide in which it had slumped more than 20 points or 1.3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,580-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets murky on an uncertain outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were slightly up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financials, telecoms and industrials,

For the day, the index dipped 3.96 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 1,580.88 after trading between 1,578.89 and 1,583.75.

Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail tanked 3.33 percent, while Axiata strengthened 1.45 percent, Celcomdigi and Hong Leong Bank both slipped 0.29 percent, CIMB Group stumbled 1.31 percent, Gamuda rallied 1.58 percent, IHH Healthcare dropped 0.96 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong advanced 0.49 percent, Maybank fell 0.38 percent, MISC eased 0.14 percent, MRDIY plummeted 6.67 percent, Nestle Malaysia sank 0.60 percent, Petronas Chemicals dipped 0.26 percent, Petronas Dagangan surged 3.97 percent, Petronas Gas added 0.46 percent, PPB Group plunged 5.55 percent, Press Metal tumbled 1.17 percent, Public Bank collected 0.89 percent, QL Resources retreated 1.08 percent, RHB Bank spiked 1.98 percent, Sime Darby surrendered 2.20 percent, SD Guthrie lost 0.41 percent, Telekom Malaysia jumped 1.92 percent, Tenaga Nasional shed 0.57 percent, YTL Corporation slumped 0.99 percent and YTL Power, Maxis, IOI Corporation and Sunway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but trended upward throughout the day, finally ending mildly to the upside.

The Dow gained 71.25 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 44,627.59, while the NASDAQ rose 14.99 points or 0.07 percent to close at 20,056.25 and the S&P 500 perked 14.57 points or 0.24 percent to end at 6,144.15.

The rebound also came even though the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting revealed that officials want to see further progress on inflation before they consider resuming lowering interest rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said housing starts pulled back by more than expected in January.

Oil futures settled higher Wednesday, extending gains from previous session amid concerns about the outlook for supplies after a recent drone attack by Ukraine on a Russian pumping station. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $0.40 or 0.56 percent at $72.25 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will see January figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In December, imports were up 11.9 percent on year and exports jumped an annual 16.9 percent for a trade surplus of MYR19.20 billion.