Little Movement Expected For Malaysia Bourse

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slipping more than 5 points or 0.3 percent in that span. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,600-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with mild downside likely from the oil and technology stocks. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets also figure to see little movement.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financials, gains from the plantations and a mixed picture from the telecoms.

For the day, the index slipped 4.16 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 1,598.18 after trading between 1,594.51 and 1,606.28.

Among the actives, Axiata rallied 1.33 percent, while Celcomdigi surged 3.82 percent, CIMB Group slid 0.36 percent, Genting shed 0.78 percent, Genting Malaysia skidded 0.92 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 0.18 percent, Maxis fell 0.55 percent, Maybank slumped 1.17 percent, MISC sank 0.79 percent, MRDIY added 0.54 percent, Nestle Malaysia declined 1.31 percent, PPB Group retreated 1.43 percent, Press Metal jumped 1.08 percent, Public Bank lost 0.68 percent, QL Resources advanced 0.84 percent, RHB Bank perked 0.15 percent, Sime Darby soared 3.14 percent, SD Guthrie gained 0.20 percent, Sunway climbed 1.03 percent, Telekom Malaysia dipped 0.31 percent, Tenaga Nasional dropped 0.83 percent, YTL Corporation tumbled 2.00 percent and YTL Power, IHH Healthcare, IOI Corporation, Petronas Chemicals and Petronas Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Wednesday's trade in negative territory before a late push saw them finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 139.53 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 43,408.47, while the NASDAQ slipped 21.33 points or 0.11 percent to close at 18,966.14 and the S&P 500 perked 0.13 points or 0.00 percent to end at 5,917.11.

The late rally was fueled by optimism ahead of the release of earnings results from tech darling Nvidia (NVDA); the results, which came after the markets closed, were solid but fell short of their lofty expectations.

The volatility seen late in the session also came as trading activity was somewhat subdued amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make more significant moves as they kept an eye on developments overseas amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday on weak demand concerns and data showing an increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December slipped $0.52 or 0.75 percent at $68.87 a barrel.