Mild Upside Seen For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Tuesday halted the five-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 25 points or 1.6 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,660-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key inflation data later this week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and plantations, while the telecoms were mixed.

For the day, the index added 8.86 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 1,660.35 after trading between 1,649.53 and 1,661.09.

Among the actives, Axiata surged 4.13 percent, while Celcomdigi fell 0.27 percent, CIMB Group soared 2.54 percent, Genting rose 0.72 percent, Genting Malaysia picked up 0.41 percent, IHH Healthcare accelerated 2.08 percent, IOI Corporation strengthened 1.31 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gathered 0.57 percent, Maxis advanced 1.06 percent, Maybank collected 0.37 percent, MISC tumbled 1.61 percent, MRDIY perked 0.50 percent, Petronas Chemicals dropped 0.73 percent, PPB Group gained 0.28 percent, Press Metal plunged 3.85 percent, Public Bank spiked 2.34 percent, QL Resources increased 0.82 percent, RHB Capital jumped 1.61 percent, Sime Darby retreated 1.29 percent, SD Guthrie improved 0.89 percent, Sunway gained 0.76 percent, Telekom Malaysia rallied 1.77 percent, Tenaga Nasional added 0.14 percent, YTL Corporation climbed 1.26 percent and YTL Power was up 0.30 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and bounced back and forth across the line before finishing on opposite sides.

The Dow shed 92.63 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 40,736.96, while the NASDAQ jumped 141.28 points or 0.84 percent to close at 17,025.88 and the S&P 500 added 24.47 points or 0.45 percent to end at 5,495.52.

The volatility seen over the course of the trading day came as traders looked ahead to the release of closely watched consumer and producer price inflation data on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

The data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting next week.

The Fed is almost universally expected to begin lowering interest rates next week, but there is some debate about if the rate cut will be 25 basis points or 50.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday, ahead of the inflation data and on concerns over the health of the global economy. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery stumbled $2.43 or 3.54 percent to finish at $66.28 per barrel.