Malaysia Bourse May Hand Back Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Wednesday halted the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 10 points or 0.7 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,460-point plateau although it's expected to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on growth and inflation concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials and mixed performances from the plantations and telecoms.

For the day, the index added 5.79 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 1,460.62 after trading between 1,454.25 and 1,463.04.

Among the actives, Axiata spiked 1.64 percent, while Celcomdigi climbed 0.68 percent, CIMB Group accelerated 1.24 percent, Dialog Group jumped 0.94 percent, Genting rallied 0.93 percent, IHH Healthcare lost 0.34 percent, IOI Corporation and Tenaga Nasional both added 0.50 percent, Maxis gained 0.49 percent, Maybank collected 0.55 percent, MISC soared 1.69 percent, MRDIY surged 4.83 percent, Petronas Chemicals strengthened 0.84 percent, PPB Group fell 0.13 percent, Press Metal sank 0.61 percent, RHB Capital perked 0.18 percent, Sime Darby rose 0.45 percent, Sime Darby Plantations slumped 0.69 percent, Telekom Malaysia dipped 0.19 percent, Westports Holdings advanced 0.58 percent and Petronas Dagangan, Public Bank, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Genting Malaysia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 198.78 points or 0.57 percent to finish at 34,443.19, while the NASDAQ sank 148.48 points or 1.06 percent to end at 13,872.47 and the S&P 500 lost 31.35 points or 0.70 percent to close at 4,465.48.

The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for the global economy and inflation concerns.

Stocks saw further downside following a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected acceleration in the pace of U.S. service sector growth in August - sending treasury yields higher.

In other U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit widened in the month of July.

Crude oil prices extended recent gains and moved higher on Wednesday, lifting the futures contract to a fresh nine-month closing high - fueled by the decision by Russia and Saudi Arabia to extend production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.85 or 1 percent at $87.54 a barrel.

Closer to home, the central bank in Malaysia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting later today and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 3.00 percent.