Malaysia Shares Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slipped more than 10 points or 0.6 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,550-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast is upbeat on encouraging inflation data from the United States. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index rose 5.85 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 1,551.44 after trading between 1,544.67 and 1,554.79.

Among the actives, Axiata slumped 1.07 percent, while Celcomdigi gained 0.46 percent, CIMB Group added 0.47 percent, Dialog Group plummeted 4.11 percent, Genting sank 0.63 percent, IHH Healthcare retreated 0.81 percent, Inari Amertron soared 2.59 percent, IOI Corporation shed 0.50 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong climbed 0.99 percent, Maxis tumbled 1.33 percent, Maybank collected 0.21 percent, MISC perked 0.26 percent, MRDIY dropped 0.64 percent, Petronas Chemicals rallied 2.19 percent, Petronas Gas fell 0.44 percent, PPB Group jumped 1.70 percent, Press Metal advanced 0.65 percent, Public Bank and QL Resources both declined 0.68 percent, Sime Darby spiked 2.26 percent, Sime Darby Plantations rallied 1.17 percent, Telekom Malaysia rose 0.33 percent, Tenaga Nasional surged 2.74 percent and Genting Malaysia and RHB Capital were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher but quickly faded before later accelerating into the green to end near session highs.

The Dow added 47.37 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 38,996.39, while the NASDAQ jumped 144.18 points or 0.90 percent to end at 16,091.92 and the S&P 500 gained 26.51 points or 0.52 percent to close at 5,096.27.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Commerce Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in January.

The inflation readings are said to be favored by the Federal Reserve, and the data generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In other U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a bigger than expected increase in weekly jobless claims, while the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly saw a sharp pullback by pending home sales in January.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday as concerns about reduced fuel demand outweighing hopes for the likely extension of production cuts by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April fell $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.