Little Movement Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Wednesday ended the four-day slide in which it had dropped more than 25 points or 1.7 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,610-point plateau and it's expected to remain in that neighborhood again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on a mixed outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the industrials were capped by profit taking among the plantations and a mixed picture from the financial shares.

For the day, the index rose 3.07 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 1,611.50 after trading between 1,602.71 and 1,611.54.

Among the actives, Celcomdigi slumped 0.61 percent, while Genting gained 0.80 percent, Genting Malaysia improved 0.95 percent, IHH Healthcare lost 0.28 percent, IOI Corporation declined 1.23 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong retreated 1.42 percent, Maxis spiked 1.97 percent, Maybank sank 0.57 percent, MISC rose 0.51 percent, Nestle Malaysia was up 0.20 percent, Petronas Chemicals tumbled 1.94 percent, PPB Group shed 0.42 percent, Press Metal rallied 1.55 percent, Public Bank collected 0.68 percent, QL Resources dipped 0.21 percent, RHB Bank climbed 1.10 percent, Sime Darby increased 0.80 percent, SD Guthrie plunged 2.72 percent, Sunway fell 0.22 percent, Telekom Malaysia stumbled 1.84 percent, Tenaga Nasional surged 2.13 percent, YTL Corporation advanced 0.98 percent, YTL Power jumped 1.56 percent and Axiata, CIMB Group, MRDIY and Petronas Dagangan were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but quickly faded and wound up mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 47.21 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 43,958.19, while the NASDAQ sank 50.66 points or 0.26 percent to close at 19,230.74 and the S&P 500 perked 1.39 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,985.38.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came following the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that came in line with estimates.

While the data increased confidence that the Federal Reserve will continue lowering interest rates next month, inflation remaining somewhat sticky led to uncertainty about the likelihood of future rate cuts.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 82.3 percent chance of another quarter point rate cut in December but a 60.2 percent chance rates will then be left unchanged in January.

Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday thanks to short covering after recent sharp losses, while a firm dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $0.31 or 0.46 percent at $68.43 a barrel.