Malaysia Bourse May Remain Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, although it has picked up less than a point in that span. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,610-point plateau and little movement is expected again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over bad loans in the auto industry. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished barely higher again on Thursday following gains from the telecoms and mixed performances from the financials, plantations and industrials.

For the day, the index perked 0.74 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 1,612.29 after trading between 1,611.28 and 1,617.28. Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail fell 0.32 percent, while AMMB Holdings lost 0.35 percent, Axiata surged 3.82 percent, Celcomdigi rallied 0.54 percent, Gamuda stumbled 1.89 percent, IHH Healthcare shed 0.37 percent, IOI Corporation climbed 0.51 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Petronas Chemicals both advanced 0.49 percent, MISC added 0.28 percent, MRDIY skidded 0.58 percent, Nestle Malaysia spiked 1.95 percent, Petronas Dagangan plummeted 3.04 percent, Petronas Gas soared 2.59 percent, Press Metal dipped 0.16 percent, Public Bank collected 0.48 percent, QL Resources declined 0.93 percent, RHB Bank rose 0.15 percent, Sime Darby sank 0.47 percent, SD Guthrie dropped 0.57 percent, Sunway tumbled 1.40 percent, Telekom Malaysia jumped 0.56 percent, YTL Corporation slumped 0.78 percent, YTL Power retreated 0.99 percent and Maxis, Maybank, PPB Group, CIMB Group and Tenaga Nasional were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but dropped into the red midday and stayed there for the balance of the session.

The Dow stumbled 301.07 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 45,952.24, while the NASDAQ clumped 107.54 points or 0.47 percent to close at 22.562.54 and the S&P 500 sank 41.99 points or 0.63 percent to end at 6,629.07.

The weakness that materialized on Wall Street was attributed to the emergence of concerns about bad loans following the recent bankruptcies of two auto industry-related companies First Brands and Tricolor Holdings.

Earlier in the day, the tech sector rose on upbeat earnings news from Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), which produces chips for Nvidia (NVDA). TSM reported a bigger than expected surge in Q3 profits amid strong AI chip demand and raised its forecast for revenue growth.

On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia noted a substantial pullback by its reading on regional manufacturing activity in the month of October.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Thursday after the Energy Information said that crude oil inventories in the U.S. increased much more than expected, sparking demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude Oil for November delivery was down $0.97 or 1.66 percent at $57.30 per barrel.