The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in six straight sessions, gathering almost 40 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,570-point plateau and it may be stuck in neutral on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The KLCI finished modestly higher again on Wednesday as gains from the telecoms and plantations were capped by weakness from the financial sector.
For the day, the index added 9.84 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 1,571.48 after trading between 1,564.89 and 1,572.48.
Among the actives, Axiata surged 5.00 percent, while Celcomdigi and Telekom Malaysia both gathered 0.49 percent, Genting gained 0.88 percent, Genting Malaysia strengthened 1.15 percent, IHH Healthcare shed 0.64 percent, IOI Corporation improved 1.00 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 0.53 percent, Maxis spiked 2.30 percent, Maybank and Hong Leong Bank both fell 0.20 percent, MISC perked 0.38 percent, MRDIY accelerated 1.33 percent, Petronas Chemicals increased 0.73 percent, PPB Group advanced 1.02 percent, Press Metal soared 2.42 percent, Public Bank collected 0.95 percent, QL Resources lost 0.47 percent, RHB Capital eased 0.18 percent, Sime Darby sank 0.70 percent, Sime Darby Plantations added 0.91 percent, Tenaga Nasional jumped 1.19 percent, YTL Corporation climbed 1.12 percent, YTL Power rallied 1.24 percent and CIMB Group and Hong Leong Financial were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed and flat and basically ended the same way.
The Dow shed 42.77 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 38,460.92, while the NASDAQ rose 16.11 points or 0.10 percent to close at 15,712.75 and the S&P 500 perked 1.08 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,071.63.
A positive reaction to the latest corporate earnings news limited any downside on Wall Street, thanks to the likes of Tesla (TSLA), Texas Instruments (TXN), Visa (V) and Mattel (MAT).
Buying interest waned soon thereafter, however, with traders still worried about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting. The Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will look for clues about the possibility of future rate cuts.
Oil prices dropped on Wednesday amid concerns about the outlook for demand and on easing tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down by $0.55 at $82.81 a barrel.
Closer to home, Malaysia will provide March numbers for consumer prices later today; in February, inflation was up 0.5 percent on month and 1.8 percent on year.
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