Malaysia Shares Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 6 points or 0.4 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,460-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later this week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were barely higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index dipped 1.04 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 1,457.99 after trading between 1,452.86 and 1,458.46.

Among the actives, Celcomdigi rallied 1.13 percent, while CIMB Group lost 0.35 percent, Dialog Group stumbled 2.27 percent, Genting Malaysia advanced 0.40 percent, IOI Corporation surged 6.12 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong plummeted 7.89 percent, Maxis and Public Bank both gained 0.24 percent, Maybank rose 0.22 percent, MISC sank 0.56 percent, MRDIY declined 1.31 percent, Petronas Chemicals retreated 2.15 percent, PPB Group jumped 1.27 percent, Press Metal slumped 0.81 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.71 percent, Sime Darby soared 3.26 percent, Sime Darby Plantations tumbled 2.84 percent, Telekom Malaysia was up 0.20 percent, Tenaga Nasional climbed 0.80 percent, Westports Holdings added 0.30 percent and Genting, IHH Healthcare, Axiata, Nestle and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Monday, bounced higher to spend most of the day in the green but faded late to end barely above the unchanged line.

The Dow added 6.06 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 34,624.30, while the NASDAQ rose 1.90 points or 0.01 percent to close at 13,710.24 and the S&P 500 perked 3.21 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,453.53.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement and the central bank's projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing homebuilder confidence in the U.S. has unexpectedly deteriorated in September.

Oil futures settled higher on Monday, rising for a third straight session on global supply issues and a weaker dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October rose $0.71 or 0.8 percent at $91.48 a barrel, the highest settlement this year.

Closer to home, Malaysia will provide August figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to sink 18.5 percent on year after falling 15.9 percent in July. Exports are called lower by an annual 14.6 percent after slipping 13.1 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at MYR13.30 billion, down from MYR17.10 billion a month earlier.