Little Movement Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one day after snapping the modest two-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 10 points or 0.6 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,640-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on decent earnings and economic news. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and plantation stocks, while the telecoms were mixed.

For the day, the index added 8.81 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 1,641.44 after trading between 1,633.72 and 1,642.93.

Among the actives, Axiata slumped 1.26 percent, while Celcomdigi gained 0.28 percent, CIMB Group perked 0.12 percent, Genting retreated 1.48 percent, Genting Malaysia tumbled 2.15 percent, IOI Corporation rose 0.27 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong improved 0.95 percent, Maxis plunged 2.63 percent, Maybank collected 0.75 percent, MISC sank 0.52 percent, MRDIY increased 0.92 percent, Petronas Chemicals accelerated 1.25 percent, Public Bank jumped 1.79 percent, QL Resources added 0.64 percent, RHB Bank surged 3.02 percent, Sime Darby rallied 1.68 percent, SD Guthrie strengthened 1.52 percent, Sunway spiked 1.82 percent, Telekom Malaysia advanced 1.08 percent, Tenaga Nasional climbed 1.38 percent, YTL Corporation tanked 2.17 percent, YTL Power dropped 0.85 percent and IHH Healthcare, PPB Group and Petronas Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but ebbed and flowed as the day progressed, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow climbed 161.35 points or 0.37 percent to finish at a record 43,239.05, while the NASDAQ rose 6.53 points or 0.04 percent to close at 18,373.61 and the S&P 500 dipped 1.00 point or 0.02 percent to end at 5,841.47.

Strength among semiconductor stocks supported the markets for much of the session before a late-day pullback, although the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index still ended up 1.0 percent.

The strength in the sector came after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) reported a sharp increase in third quarter profits.

In economic news, Commerce Department said retail sales increased more than expected in September. Also, the Labor Department noted an unexpected pullback by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil futures snapped a four-day losing streak on Thursday, supported by data showing an unexpected drop in crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $70.67 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will release Q3 numbers for gross domestic product and September data for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In Q2, GDP was up 5.9 percent on year; in August, imports surged 26.2 percent on year and exports jumped an annual 12.1 percent for a trade surplus of MYR5.70 billion.