Additional Support Anticipated For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Monday snapped the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 6 points or 0.4 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,455-point plateau and it may pick up steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on an improved outlook for interest rates and support from technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The KLCI finished barely higher on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index perked 0.09 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 1,455.04 after trading between 1,450.68 and 1,455.56.

Among the actives, Westports Holdings tumbled 1.79 percent, Maxis retreated 1.19 percent, Petronas Gas jumped 1.18 percent, Telekom Malaysia slumped 1.08 percent, MISC climbed 0.99 percent, Dialog Group advanced 0.95 percent, Celcomdigi improved 0.92 percent, Petronas Chemicals added 0.84 percent, QL Resources sank 0.55 percent, IOI Corporation shed 0.49 percent, Sime Darby lost 0.46 percent, CIMB Group gained 0.35 percent, IHH Healthcare rose 0.34 percent, Tenaga Nasional gathered 0.30 percent, AMMB Holdings perked 0.27 percent, Genting was up 0.24 percent, Public Bank fell 0.24 percent, Sime Darby Plantations increased 0.23 percent, Maybank collected 0.22 percent and Mr. DIY, PPB Group, RHB Bank, Axiata, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Genting Malaysia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow advanced 87.13 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 34,663.72, while the NASDAQ spiked 156.37 points or 1.14 percent to close at 13,917.89 and the S&P 500 gained 29.97 points or 0.67 percent to end at 4,487.46.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ received a boost from a surge by shares of Tesla (TSLA), with the electric car maker spiking by 10.1 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the company's stock to Overweight from Equal-Weight.

The overall strength on Wall Street partly reflected easing concerns about the outlook for interest rates after reports suggested a shift in Federal Reserve officials' stance on rates.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 93.0 chance the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged next week. The outlook for November is a little more uncertain, however, with the FedWatch Tool indicating a 54.5 percent chance rates will remain unchanged and a 42.6 percent chance of another quarter point rate hike.

Crude oil prices fell on Monday, retreating from last week's 10-month highs on concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.22 or 0.3 percent at $87.29 a barrel.