Rally May Stall For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 10 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,675-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with many of the overbought regional bourses likely to see profit taking. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the plantations and telecoms were capped by weakness from the financial sector.

For the day, the index rose 3.01 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 1,673.38 after trading between 1,665.19 and 1,675.73.

Among the actives, Axiata retreated 1.19 percent, while Celcomdigi climbed 0.81 percent, CIMB Group eased 0.12 percent, IHH Healthcare gained 0.42 percent, IOI Corporation advanced 0.79 percent, Maxis shed 0.51 percent, Maybank lost 0.37 percent, MISC perked 0.12 percent, MRDIY surged 4.33 percent, Petronas Chemicals accelerated 2.72 percent, PPB Group jumped 1.38 percent, Press Metal rallied 2.08 percent, Public Bank slumped 1.07 percent, QL Resources rose 0.22 percent, RHB Bank tumbled 1.90 percent, Sime Darby soared 4.31 percent, SD Guthrie spiked 3.83 percent, Sunway dropped 0.93 percent, Telekom Malaysia added 0.61 percent, Tenaga Nasional fell 0.13 percent, YTL Corporation sank 0.75 percent, YTL Power skidded 1.02 percent and Genting Malaysia, Genting and Kuala Lumpur Kepong were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but trended lower throughout the session, finally ending mostly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 293.47 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 41,914.75, while the NASDAQ perked 7.68 points or 0.04 percent to close at 18,082.21 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.67 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,722.26.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength, which has lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to record highs.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales pulled back sharply in the month of August.

Data on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and personal income and spending are due later this week, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech later today is also in focus.

Oil prices fell sharply Wednesday on uncertainty about the outlook for demand and easing concerns over supply disruptions in Libya. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.87 or 2.6 percent at $69.69 a barrel.