Little Movement Seen For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Tuesday finally halted the losing streak that had stretched to eight sessions and lost more than 100 points or 6.9 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,480-point plateau and it's looking at a steady start on Wednesday.

The global forecast is cautious ahead of the U.S. interest rate decision later today. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed, and the oversold Asian markets figure to see little movement ahead of the rate decision.

The KLCI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, plantations and telecoms.

For the day, the index gained 16.45 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 1,481.28 after trading between 1,451.18 and 1,481.72. Volume was 2.724 billion shares worth 2.114 billion ringgit. There were 483 decliners and 482 gainers.

Among the actives, Axiata slumped 0.35 percent, while CIMB Group added 1.22 percent, Dialog Group spiked 3.37 percent, Digi.com soared 4.84 percent, Genting Malaysia and RHB Capital both rose 0.69 percent, Hartalega Holdings plummeted 4.23 percent, IHH Healthcare increased 1.29 percent, INARI advanced 1.92 percent, IOI Corporation gathered 1.23 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong climbed 2.07 percent, MISC strengthened 2.14 percent, MRDIY improved 1.30 percent, Petronas Chemicals gained 1.05 percent, PPB Group rallied 3.08 percent, Press Metal perked 0.61 percent, Public Bank collected 0.67 percent, Sime Darby sank 0.46 percent, Sime Darby Plantations surged 5.97 percent, Telekom Malaysia jumped 3.00 percent, Tenaga Nasional was up 0.47 percent and Top Glove, Genting, Maxis and Maybank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky after the major averages shook off a higher open on Friday. The Dow and S&P quickly turned lower and stayed that way, while the NASDAQ bounced back and forth across the line to finish higher.

The Dow dropped 151.91 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 30,364.83, while the NASDAQ added 19.12 points or 0.18 percent to close at 10,828.35 and the S&P 500 dipped 14.15 points or 0.38 percent to end at 3,735.48.

The choppy trade on Wall Street comes ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today.

The Fed is expected to hike interest rates by 50 basis points, although forecasts are suggesting a 75-bp increase.

In economic news, the Labor Department said producer prices increased on a monthly basis but eased off a 21-year high annually.

Crude oil futures drifted lower Tuesday on reports of a likely proposal to impose a federal surtax on oil companies to curb rising inflation. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $2.00 or 1.7 percent at $118.93 a barrel.