Renewed Consolidation Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day slide in which it had slipped just 5 points or 0.3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,460-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns that the outlook for interest rates may have been too optimistic. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the industrials, weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the telecoms.

For the day, the index added 9.27 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 1,562.37 after trading between 1,450.17 and 1,465.69.

Among the actives, YTL Power skyrocketed 8.95 percent, while YTL Corporation surged 4.69 percent, Petronas Chemicals soared 2.10 percent, AMMB Holdings spiked 1.99 percent, PPB Group accelerated 1.96 percent, Sime Darby tumbled 1.68 percent, Press Metal jumped 1.65 percent, MISC rallied 1.51 percent, IOI Corporation strengthened 1.27 percent, Telekom Malaysia climbed 1.07 percent, CIMB Group advanced 1.03 percent, Celcomdigi improved 0.98 percent, Genting increased 0.88 percent, Hong Leong Bank slumped 0.86 percent, Axiata dropped 0.83 percent, Tenaga Nasional added 0.80 percent, RHB Bank sank 0.73 percent, Mr. DIY gained 0.69 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 0.46 percent, Genting Malaysia gathered 0.37 percent, Maybank lost 0.34 percent, Maxis perked 0.26 percent, Public Bank fell 0.23 percent, Sime Darby Plantations was up 0.23 percent and IHH Healthcare was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 284.85 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 37,430.19, while the NASDAQ dropped 173.73 points or 1.18 percent to close at 14,592.21 and the S&P 500 sank 38.02 points or 0.80 percent to end at 4,704.81.

The continued weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns investors have become too optimistic about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts.

Stocks saw some further downside as the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting reiterated officials widely expect to begin lowering rates in 2024, but they also highlighted an "unusually elevated degree of uncertainty" about the outlook.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said U.S. manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly slower rate in December. Also, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. edged down from an upwardly revised level in November.

The price of crude oil moved rebounded on Wednesday, regaining ground on concerns about further attacks by Houthi militants against ships in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery surged $2.32 or 3.3 percent to $72.70 a barrel.