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Shutterstock photo(RTTNews.com) – The Malaysia stock market gave up just a single point on Wednesday – but that was enough to snap the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 15 points or 0.9 percent to a 20-year closing high. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,835-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with support offered by solid earnings news and a surge in crude oil prices. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The KLCI finished barely lower on Wednesday as losses from the industrials and plantations were offset by support from the financial sector.
For the day, the index dipped 1.00 point or 0.05 percent to finish at 1,837.04 after trading between 1,834.49 and 1,838.34. Volume was 3.4 billion shares worth 2.4 billion ringgit. There were 606 decliners and 402 gainers.
Among the actives, Petronas Gas plummeted 2.53 percent, while Genting Malaysia surged 2.01 percent, Genting tumbled 1.63 percent, AMMB Holdings dropped 1.04 percent, Astro Malaysia Holdings jumped 0.78 percent, CIMB Group collected 0.72 percent, YTL Corporation shed 0.65 percent, Axiata Group skidded 0.54 percent, Petronas Chemicals lost 0.37 percent, Sime Darby slipped 0.34 percent, IOI Corporation fell 0.21 percent, Maybank added 0.20 percent, Telekom Malaysia gained 0.17 percent, Tenaga Nasional and MISC both eased 0.13 percent and Petronas Dagangan, IHH Healthcare, Public Bank and IJM Corporation all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks failed to sustain an early upward move Wednesday before finishing mixed – although the Dow hit a new record closing high.
The Dow rose 41.31 points or 0.16 percent to 26,252.12, while the NASDAQ slid 45.23 points or 0.61 percent to 7,415.06 and the S&P 500 eased 1.59 points or 0.06 percent to 2,837.54.
The early strength reflected a positive reaction to the latest batch of quarterly earnings news from Abbott Laboratories (ABT), United Technologies (UTX), and Comcast (CMCSA).
In economic news, the National Association of Realtors noted a bigger than expected pullback in existing home sales in December – which came sales jumped to highest rate in nearly eleven years in November.
Crude oil futures extended three-year highs Wednesday, fueled by a weak U.S. dollar and another decline in U.S. oil inventories. March WTI oil climbed $1.14 or 1.8 percent to $65.61/bbl, the highest since December 2014.
Closer to home, the central bank in Malaysia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting today and then announce its decision on interest rates. The bank is widely expected to hike its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, from 3.00 percent to 3.25 percent.
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