Malaysia Bourse May See Additional Support On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than a dozen points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,490-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over upcoming earnings, especially among the technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the telecoms, weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the plantation stocks.

For the day, the index rose 4.82 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 1,491.19 after trading between 1,485.51 and 1,493.98.

Among the actives, Axiata surged 5.51 percent, while Celcomdigi climbed 0.71 percent, CIMB Group sank 0.67 percent, Genting rallied 1.72 percent, Genting Malaysia jumped 1.51 percent, IHH Healthcare shed 0.50 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 0.18 percent, Maxis advanced 0.53 percent, Maybank slid 0.22 percent, MISC rose 0.14 percent, MRDIY tumbled 2.05 percent, Petronas Chemicals retreated 1.03 percent, PPB Group dropped 0.54 percent, Public Bank fell 0.23 percent, QL Resources lost 0.34 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.72 percent, Sime Darby Plantations slumped 0.90 percent, Telekom Malaysia accelerated 1.20 percent, Tenaga Nasional added 0.38 percent, YTL Corporation spiked 5.05 percent, YTL Power soared 5.26 percent and IOI Corporation, Press Metal, Sime Darby, Petronas Gas and Nestle Malaysia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened solidly higher, with the Dow and S&P hitting fresh record intraday highs; they faded as the day progressed but still ended well in the green.

The Dow climbed 138.01 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 38,001.81, while the NASDAQ gained 49.32 points or 0.32 percent to close at 15,360.29 and the S&P 500 rose 10.62 points or 0.22 percent to end at 4,850.43.

The early strength on Wall Street came on continued optimism about the outlook for earnings from major tech firms, with Intel (INTC), IBM Corp. (IBM) and Netflix (NFLX) among the companies due to release their quarterly results this week.

In economic news, the Conference Board noted a modest decrease in its index of leading U.S. economic indicators in December, continuing to signal underlying weakness in the U.S. economy.

Oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid concerns about possible supply disruptions in the Middle East, and extreme cold weather in North America. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $75.19 a barrel, gaining $1.78 or about 2.4 percent.