Mild Upside Seen For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for Malaysia Day, the Malaysia stock market had moved higher in consecutive trading days, gathering almost 15 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,650-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the Federal Reserve's Monetary Policy decision later this week. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, while the plantations and telecoms also were mostly in the green.

For the day, the index advanced 13.84 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 1,652.15 after trading between 1,638.44 and 1,652.25.

Among the actives, Axiata gathered 0.81 percent, while Celcomdigi dropped 0.80 percent, CIMB Group rallied 2.90 percent, Genting picked up 1.45 percent, Genting Malaysia increased 1.24 percent, IHH Healthcare strengthened 1.95 percent, IOI Corporation was up 0.26 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong sank 0.29 percent, Maxis fell 0.26 percent, MISC jumped 2.16 percent, MRDIY skidded 1.01 percent, Petronas Chemicals advanced 0.92 percent, PPB Group improved 1.87 percent, Press Metal surged 3.69 percent, Public Bank collected 1.08 percent, QL Resources dipped 0.15 percent, RHB Capital climbed 0.96 percent, Sime Darby rose 0.87 percent, SD Guthrie gained 0.89 percent, Sunway accelerated 3.02 percent, Telekom Malaysia added 0.90 percent, Tenaga Nasional perked 0.68 percent, YTL Corporation spiked 3.24 percent, YTL Power soared 3.39 percent and Maybank and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Monday, largely hugged the line throughout the session and ended little changed.

The Dow advanced 228.30 points or 0.55 percent to finish at a record 41,622.08, while the NASDAQ slumped 91.85 points or 0.52 percent to close at 17,592.13 and the S&P 500 rose 7.07 points or 0.13 percent to end at 5,633.09.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as investors looked ahead to Wednesday's Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement and stayed largely cautious and selective.

The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates, but there remains some debate about the size of the rate cut. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 65.0 percent chance of a half-point rate cut and a 35.0 percent chance of a quarter-point rate cut.

On the economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report showing regional manufacturing grew for the first time in nearly a year in the month of September.

Oil prices climbed higher on Monday as concerns about tight supply outweighed demand outlook, while a weak dollar also contributed to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.44 at $70.09 a barrel.