Malaysia Shares May Bounce Higher Again On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 45 points or 3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,515-point plateau although it's likely to see renewed support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses moved higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and telecoms, while the plantations came in mixed.

For the day, the index shed 10.15 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 1,517.66 after trading between 1,512.21 and 1,523.39.

Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail tanked 2.94 percent, while Axiata plunged 3.78 percent, CIMB Group plummeted 4.41 percent, Gamuda tumbled 2.45 percent, IHH Healthcare perked 0.14 percent, IOI Corporation and Petronas Gas both jumped 1.08 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong advanced 0.95 percent, Maxis shed 0.31 percent, Maybank dropped 0.58 percent, MISC improved 0.85 percent, Nestle Malaysia stumbled 1.94 percent, Petronas Chemicals slumped 0.80 percent, Petronas Dagangan added 0.56 percent, Press Metal rose 0.20 percent, QL Resources declined 0.84 percent, RHB Bank fell 0.14 percent, SD Guthrie lost 0.21 percent, Sunway sank 0.44 percent, Telekom Malaysia retreated 1.52 percent, YTL Corporation climbed 1.01 percent, YTL Power rallied 2.19 percent and Celcomdigi, PPB Group, Sime Darby, Tenaga Nasional, MRDIY and Public Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened modestly higher on Wednesday but accelerated into the close, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 383.32 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 41,964.63, while the NASDAQ surged 246.67 points or 1.41 percent to close at 17,750.79 and the S&P 500 rallied 60.63 points or 1.08 percent to end at 5,675.29.

Stocks rallied early in the session and saw further upside following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The Fed announced its widely expected decision to again leave interest rates unchanged but signaled that it is still likely to lower rates later this year.

Meanwhile, Fed officials lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent.

Oil futures closed higher on Wednesday amid continued uncertainty about growth due to the impact of U.S. tariffs on some of its major trading partners. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.26 or 0.39 percent at $67.16 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will see February data for imports, exports and trade balance this morning. Imports are expected to rise 8.0 percent on year, up from 6.2 percent in January. Exports are called higher by an annual 5.6 percent, up from 0.3 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at MYR11.20 billion, up from MYR3.60 billion a month earlier.