Mild Upside Seen For Malaysia Stock Market

The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 7 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,395-point plateau and it may inch higher again on Friday.

The global forecast is murky on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished slightly higher again on Thursday as the financials and telecoms were mostly higher, while the plantations were soft.

For the day, the index rose 1.22 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 1,394.67 after trading between 1,391.76 and 1,402.44.

Among the actives, Axiata and PPB Group both added 0.38 percent, while Celcomdigi spiked 1.20 percent, CIMB Group dipped 0.19 percent, Dialog Group surged 2.38 percent, Genting skidded 0.97 percent, Genting Malaysia tumbled 1.99 percent, IHH Healthcare climbed 0.85 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong shed 0.64 percent, Maxis advanced 0.72 percent, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional both perked 0.11 percent, Petronas Chemicals sank 0.65 percent, Press Metal lost 0.42 percent, Public Bank collected 0.26 percent, RHB Capital gained 0.37 percent, Sime Darby Plantations dropped 0.70 percent, Telekom Malaysia slumped 0.79 percent, Westports Holdings jumped 1.13 percent and MISC, MRDIY, IOI Corporation and Sime Darby were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally ending mixed.

The Dow dipped 4.81 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 33,946.71, while the NASDAQ jumped 128.41 points or 0.95 percent to end ay 13,630.61 and the S&P 500 added 16.20 points or 0.37 percent to close at 4,381.89.

Buying interest may also have been generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims held at their highest level since October 2021 last week.

With the Federal Reserve repeatedly warning about the impact of labor market tightness, the data may have added to optimism the central bank will not follow through on plans to continue raising interest rates.

Lingering concerns about rates limited the upside, however, as the Bank of England raised rates more aggressively, hiking rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday as interest rate hikes and inflation concerns raised concerns about the outlook for fuel demand, while a stronger greenback also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $3.02 or 4.1 percent at $69.51 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will release May numbers for consumer prices later today; in April, overall inflation was up 0.1 percent on month and 3.3 percent on year.

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