Malaysia Bourse Tipped To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Monday wrote a finish to the three-day slide in which it had slumped more than 15 points or 1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,625-point plateau and it may inch slightly higher on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is a holding pattern ahead of Wednesday's FOMC rate decision and announcement. The European and U.S. markets ended mixed and flat and the Asian bourses are likely to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index improved 11.68 points or 0.72 percent to finish at 1,624.56 after trading between 1,616.35 and 1,625.55.

Among the actives, Axiata spiked 2.09 percent, while Celcomdigi climbed 1.35 percent, CIMB Group advanced 0.98 percent, Genting and YTL Power both added 0.64 percent, Genting Malaysia gathered 0.39 percent, IHH Healthcare moved on 0.16 percent, IOI Corporation increased 0.53 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong picked up 0.29 percent, Maxis expanded 0.28 percent, Maybank gained 0.59 percent, MISC and Hong Leong Financial both rose 0.58 percent, MRDIY accelerated 1.95 percent, Nestle Malaysia tumbled 2.93 percent, Petronas Chemicals slumped 1.34 percent, PPB Group strengthened 1.37 percent, Press Metal soared 2.29 percent, Public Bank collected 0.71 percent, QL Resources perked 0.30 percent, RHB Capital was up 0.18 percent, SD Guthrie jumped 1.57 percent, Sunway surged 2.59 percent, Telekom Malaysia rallied 1.88 percent, Tenaga Nasional improved 0.57 percent and YTL Corporation and Sime Darby were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and hugged the line for most of the day, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 49.41 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 40,539.93, while the NASDAQ added 12.32 points or 0.07 percent to close at 17,370.20 and the S&P 500 rose 4.44 points or 0.08 percent to end at 5,463.54.

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

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking to the accompanying statement for additional clues about a possible rate cut in September.

Investors are also waiting for corporate earnings this week from companies that include Microsoft (MSFT), Meta Platforms (META), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN).

Crude oil prices fell to a seven-week low on Monday amid concerns about the outlook for demand from China, and ahead of Thursday's OPEC meeting. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.35 or 1.8 percent at $75.81 a barrel.