Malaysia Bourse May Run Out Of Steam On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just shy of the 1m545-point plateau, although the rally may stall on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity with the outlook for interest rates shrouded in uncertainty. 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 Monday following gains from the financial shares and plantation stocks, while the telecoms were mixed.

For the day, the index added 7,95 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 1,544.02 after trading between 1,537.07 and 1,544.71.

Among the actives, Axiata slumped 1.12 percent, while Celcomdigi jumped 1.19 percent, CIMB Group gathered 0.30 percent, Genting improved 0.85 percent, IHH Healthcare rose 0.50 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong increased 0.62 percent, Maxis spiked 1.48 percent, Maybank perked 0.21 percent, MISC dipped 0.13 percent, Petronas Chemicals added 0.60 percent, Petronas Gas surged 3.63 percent, PPB Group soared 2.99 percent, Press Metal advanced 0.86 percent, Public Bank collected 0.47 percent, RHB Capital gained 0.53 percent, Sime Darby sank 0.38 percent, Sime Darby Plantations rallied 1.16 percent, YTL Corporation strengthened 1.14 percent, YTL Power climbed 1.03 percent and MRDIY, Telekom Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional, IOI Corporation, Genting Malaysia and QL Resources were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but spent most of the day in the red, although the NASDAQ ticked back up into the green by the session's end.

The Dow slumped 240.52 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 39,566.85, while the NASDAQ added 17.37 points or 0.11 percent to close at 16,396.83 and the S&P 500 fell 10.58 points or 0.20 percent to end at 5,243.77.

The early strength on Wall Street came as traders finally had an opportunity to react to last Friday's closely watched U.S. consumer price inflation data, which largely matched expectations.

Buying interest remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders expressed uncertainty about whether inflation is slowing quickly enough to guarantee the interest rate cuts expected by the Federal Reserve.

The subsequent pullback by stocks came as a report from the Institute for Supply Management unexpectedly showing modest growth in U.S. manufacturing activity in March contributed to a jump by Treasury yields.

Oil prices moved higher Monday amid concerns about a possible drop in supplies following reports of an Israeli strike near the Iranian embassy in Damascus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.54 or 0.65 percent at $83.71 a barrel.