Malaysia Stock Market Likely Rangebound Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 10 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,410-point plateau and it figures to hold steady in that area again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of this week's rate decision from the FOMC. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and the plantation stocks.

For the day, the index added 6.83 points or 0.49 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,413.52 after moving as low as 1,405.64.

Among the actives, Axiata jumped 1.59 percent, while Celcomdigi strengthened 1.39 percent, CIMB Group rallied 1.53 percent, Dialog Group skidded 0.90 percent, Genting sank 0.24 percent, Genting Malaysia dropped 0.78 percent, Hong Leong Bank and Hong Leong Financial both perked 0.11 percent, IHH Healthcare added 0.69 percent, IOI Corporation spiked 2.01 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gathered 0.35 percent, Maxis and Public Bank both collected 0.25 percent, Maybank lost 0.23 percent, MISC dipped 0.14 percent, MRDIY tumbled 2.07 percent, PPB Group advanced 1.24 percent, Press Metal declined 1.23 percent, RHB Capital climbed 1.27 percent, Sime Darby surged 3.38 percent, Sime Darby Plantations soared 2.95 percent, Telekom Malaysia rose 0.41 percent, Tenaga Nasional gained 0.44 percent, Westports Holdings retreated 1.37 percent and Petronas Chemicals was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Friday but faded as the day progressed, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 2.49 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 35,227.69, while the NASDAQ lost 30.49 points or 0.22 percent to close at 14,032.81 and the S&P 500 rose 1.47 points or 0.03 percent to end at 4,536.34.

With the uptick, the Dow closed higher for the 10th straight session and surged 2.1 percent for the week. The S&P 500 also climbed 0.7 percent for the week, while the NASDAQ fell 0.6 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy meeting this week.

With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Oil futures settled higher on Friday, lifted by data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories and recent announcements by Saudi Arabia and Russia about crude output reductions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $1.42 or 1.9 percent at 77.07 a barrel. WTI Crude futures gained 2.3 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Malaysia will release June figures for consumer prices later today; in May, inflation was up 0.2 percent on month and 2.8 percent on year.