Malaysia Stock Market May Take Further Damage On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Wednesday snapped the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 30 points or 2 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,605-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uninspired thanks to uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished barely lower on Wednesday following losses from the financials, gains from the plantations and mixed performances from the telecoms.

For the day, the index eased 0.93 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 1,604.75 after trading between 1,602.29 and 1,610.25.

Among the actives, Axiata dropped 0.69 percent, while Celcomdigi advanced 0.73 percent, CIMB Group retreated 1.03 percent, Dialog Group jumped 1.61 percent, Genting and Petronas Gas both collected 0.22 percent, Genting Malaysia was up 0.38 percent, IHH Healthcare slid 0.16 percent, Inari perked 0.31 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gathered 0.35 percent, Maybank shed 0.41 percent, MISC increased 0.24 percent, MRDIY added 0.56 percent, Petronas Chemicals rallied 1.01 percent, PPB Group gained 0.50 percent, Press Metal improved 0.37 percent, Public Bank fell 0.24 percent, QL Resources rose 0.46 percent, RHB Capital lost 0.36 percent, Sime Darby and AMMB Holdings both slumped 0.71 percent, Sime Darby Plantations surged 3.12 percent, Telekom Malaysia tumbled 1.44 percent, Tenaga Nasional sank 0.64 percent and IOI Corporation, Maxis and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened lower but ultimately wound up mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 172.13 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 39,056.39, while the NASDAQ sank 29.80 points or 0.18 percent to close at 16,302.76 and the S&P 500 eased 0.03 points or 0.00 percent to end at 5,187.67.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following Tuesday's remarks by Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari.

Kashkari suggested interest rates may need to remain at current levels for an extended period and said he couldn't rule out another rate increase.

The Federal Reserve is still widely expected to lower rates sometime in the third quarter, however, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicating an 83.5 percent chance rates will be lower by September.

Oil futures settled higher on Wednesday after data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories rose last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.61 or 0.78 percent at $78.99 per barrel.

Closer to home, the central bank in Malaysia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting later today and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 3.00 percent.