Malaysia Shares May See Renewed Consolidation

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long weekend for Malaysia Day, the Malaysia stock market had bounced higher again on Friday, one day after halting the three-day winning streak in which it had collected more than a dozen points or 0.8 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,600-point plateau although it may head south again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished sharply higher on Friday as the telecoms, financials and industrials were mostly in the green.

For the day, the index climbed 17.28 points or 1.09 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,600.13 after trading as low as 1,585.06. Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail jumped 1.61 percent, while Axiata increased 1.14 percent, Celcomdigi was up 0.27 percent, CIMB Group soared 1.80 percent, Gamuda and Press Metal both rallied 1.62 percent, IHH Healthcare strengthened 1.40 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong sank 0.70 percent, Maxis gained 0.83 percent, Maybank advanced 1.02 percent, MISC gathered 0.68 percent, MRDIY lost 0.64 percent, Nestle Malaysia surged 2.51 percent, Petronas Chemicals added 0.93 percent, Petronas Dagangan accelerated 1.68 percent, Petronas Gas shed 0.65 percent, PPB Group stumbled 1.68 percent, Public Bank and YTL Power both rose 0.71 percent, QL Resources fell 0.23 percent, RHB Bank dropped 0.76 percent, Sime Darby plummeted 5.58 percent, SD Guthrie collected 0.58 percent, Sunway perked 0.38 percent, Telekom Malaysia skyrocketed 10.11 percent, Tenaga Nasional climbed 1.21 percent, YTL Corporation improved 1.15 percent and AMMB Holdings and IOI Corporation were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and all ended under water.

The Dow slumped 125.55 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 45,757.90, while the NASDAQ fell 14.79 points or 0.07 percent to close at 22,333.75 and the S&P lost 8.52 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,606.76.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as the Federal Reserve began its two-day monetary policy meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

The Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to say future rate cuts will depend on incoming economic data.

Crude oil moved sharply higher on Tuesday amid the intensifying Russia-Ukraine war and ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.22 or 1.93 percent at $64.52 per barrel.