The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sliding almost 20 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index settled just shy of the 1,710-point plateau, although the market may see traction on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with the markets expected to follow the price of crude oil higher. The European and U.S. markets were higher, and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.
The KLCI finished slightly lower again on Wednesday following losses from the industrial issues and plantation stocks, while the financial shares were mostly higher.
Among the actives, Maybank, Sime Darby, PPB Group and IOI Corporation all finished lower, while MISC, Hong Leong Bank, RHB Capital, Public Bank, CIMB Group and Genting all ended higher.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks saw considerable volatility on Wednesday, surging mid-day before slipping off the highs by the close.
The Dow edged up 42.67 points or 0.2 percent to 18,096.27, while the NASDAQ rose 7.80 points or 0.2 percent to 4,948.13 and the S&P 500 added 1.60 points or 0.1 percent to 2,102.40.
The market strength was partly due to another substantial rebound by the price of crude oil following speculation regarding another effort to freeze production - as well as a report showing a smaller than expected increase in crude inventories.
Among individual stocks, Yahoo (YHOO) and Intel (INTC) moved higher following solid earnings news, while Coca-Cola (KO) came under pressure after reporting earnings that beat estimates but on weaker than expected volume.
No comments:
Post a Comment