Mild Upside Seen For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,650-point plateau and it's likely to be rangebound again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key corporate and inflation data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to also hug the unchanged line.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financials and telecoms, while the plantations came in mixed.

For the day, the index advanced 13.33 points or 0.81 percent to finish at 1,652.29 after trading between 1,639.16 and 1,653.12.

Among the actives, Axiata added 0.41 percent, Celcomdigi accelerated 2.27 percent, CIMB Group advanced 0.51 percent, Genting sank 0.23 percent, Genting Malaysia gained 0.40 percent, IHH Healthcare fell 0.16 percent, IOI Corporation climbed 1.32 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong stumbled 1.21 percent, Maxis surged 4.44 percent, Maybank strengthened 1.52 percent, MISC rose 0.23 percent, Petronas Chemicals jumped 1.57 percent, PPB Group rallied 2.52 percent, Press Metal spiked 2.69 percent, Public Bank soared 3.77 percent, RHB Capital lost 0.17 percent, Sime Darby plummeted 4.14 percent, SD Guthrie tumbled 1.29 percent, Sunway slumped 0.97 percent, Telekom Malaysia improved 1.18 percent, YTL Corporation tanked 2.64 percent, YTL Power plunged 3.47 percent and QL Resources, MRDIY and Tenaga Nasional were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is flat to positive as the major averages straddled the unchanged line throughout Tuesday's trade before finally finishing barely higher.

The Dow rose 10.00 points or 0.02 percent to finish at a record 41,250.50, while the NASDAQ added 29.05 points or 0.16 percent to close at 17,754.82 and the S&P 500 perked 8.96 points or 0.16 percent to end at 5,625.80.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling due to release its fiscal second quarter results later today.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending in the month of July, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve, on Friday.

While the data is not likely to affect optimism the Fed will lower rates next month, it could impact expectations for how quickly the central bank cuts rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday after three successive days of strong gains, consolidating ahead of supply data due out later today. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for October slumped $1.89 or 2.5 percent at $75.53 a barrel.