Malaysia Bourse May Hand Back Monday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 25 points or 1.7 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,490-point plateau although it may see renewed consolidation on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financials and plantations, while the telecoms and industrials were mixed.

For the day, the index advanced 12.87 points or 0.87 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,493.42 after trading as low as 1,483.93.

Among the actives, Axiata and Maybank both collected 0.34 percent, while CIMB Group added 0.71 percent, Dialog Group surged 6.61 percent, Digi.com rallied 1.52 percent, Genting gathered 0.85 percent, Genting Malaysia jumped 1.45 percent, IHH Healthcare gained 0.33 percent, IOI Corporation and INARI both spiked 2.56 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 0.27 percent, Maxis lost 0.53 percent, MISC soared 3.88 percent, MRDIY improved 0.98 percent, Petronas Chemicals sank 0.60 percent, PPB Group gained 0.69 percent, Press Metal perked 0.41 percent, Public Bank was up 0.23 percent, RHB Capital climbed 1.23 percent, Sime Darby increased 0.87 percent, Sime Darby Plantations strengthened 1.37 percent, Telekom Malaysia retreated 1.32 percent, Tenaga Nasional advanced 0.95 percent and Nestle Malaysia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded as the day progressed, eventually ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow dropped 112.96 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 33,517.65, while the NASDAQ gained 66.36 points or 0.63 percent to close at 10,635.65 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.99 points or 0.08 percent to end at 3,892.09.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was solid after bond yields dropped amid bets the Federal Reserve will slow down the pace of its interest rate hikes in the coming months.

Stocks pared gains after comments from Fed officials that the central bank might raise rates to somewhere above 5 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Monday, gaining for a third straight session amid hopes of increased demand - while a weak dollar also helped to support oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February rose $0.86 or 1.2 percent at $74.63 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will see unemployment data for November later today; in October, the jobless rate was 3.6 percent.