ZLBT Morning Views : Bursa Malaysia + Wall Street

Bursa Malaysia May Continue Winning Streak Today
The Malaysian stock market has finished higher now in three straight sessions, adding just over 6 points or 0.4 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index finished just below the 1,530-point plateau, and now analysts are expecting the market to extend those gains when it kicks off trade on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains optimistic following upbeat economic news from the United States and continued solid earnings reports. Gold miners and retail stocks figure to lead the markets higher, although oil companies may be dented by profit taking. The U.S. markets finished mostly higher and the European bourses were mostly so, and the Asian markets also figure to track to the upside.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Wednesday as solid gains from the financial shares were offset by weakness from the property stocks and plantations.

The benchmark FBM KLCI is hovering around the key resistance of 1,530 and once it breaches this level, the next resistance would be at 1,550.

Meanwhile, the ringgit continued to chart a new 13-year high versus the US dollar, riding on the weakening greenback.

At 5pm, the local unit stood at 2.9780/9801 as investors awaited the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates yesterday.

For the day, the index added 2.57 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 1529.91 after trading between 1,526.58 and 1,534.69. Volume was 1.114 billion shares worth 1.431 billion ringgit. There were 454 decliners and 320 gainers. Volume on the Main Market increased to 832.859 million shares worth RM1.365 billion from 793.167 million shares, worth RM1.221 billion recorded on Tuesday.Among the actives, Genting, AMMB, CIMB Holdings and Sime Darby all finished higher, while Tenaga Nasional, Digi.com and BAT ended lower.

Transperant Fed Propels DJIA North Of 12600

Wall Street offers a positive lead as stocks saw some further upside during trading on Wednesday after showing a strong upward move in the previous session. The markets benefited from a positive reaction to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement and Chairman Ben Bernanke's accompanying news conference. While stocks showed a lack of direction in morning trading, buying interest emerged as traders digested the Fed's monetary policy announcement.

As expected, the Fed once again left interest rates unchanged at near-zero levels and indicated that it will continue its asset purchase program through the end of June. In the statement, the Fed noted that the economic recovery is proceeding at a moderate pace and said overall conditions in the labor market are improving gradually. Stocks saw further upside as Bernanke held his news conference later in the afternoon, with the Fed Chief predicting that the economic recovery would continue at a moderate pace and reiterating that measures of underlying inflation remain stable despite recent increases in commodities prices. The Fed Chairman also noted that monetary policy actions must be taken with an eye toward future due to the delayed impact of policy changes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA – 12,690.96) settled on an impressive gain of 95.6 points, or 0.8%, as all but two of its 30 components powered higher. In the process, the Dow collected its first daily close above 12,600 since June 5, 2008, and its highest settlement price since May 20, 2008. On an intraday basis, the index tagged a new multi-year peak of 12,708.37. General Electric paced the 28 advancing blue chips, thanks to bullish comments from its CFO, while Cisco Systems was the lone Dow member to finish in the red. United Technologies finished flat.

The S&P 500 Index (SPX – 1,355.66) topped out at 1,357.49 in intraday action, before ending with a gain of 8.4 points, or 0.6%. Today marks the SPX's best daily finish since June 17, 2008. Finally, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP – 2,869.88) rounded out the rally by adding 22.3 points, or 0.8%. The COMP peaked at 2,870.80 today -- in territory the index hasn't explored since January 2001.

Earlier in the day, the Commerce Department released a report showing that new orders for manufactured durable goods increased by much more than anticipated in March. The report showed that durable goods orders surged up by 2.5 percent in March following a revised 0.7 percent increase in February. Economists had expected orders to increase by 1.9 percent compared to the 0.9 percent drop that had been reported for the previous month.

On the earnings front, aerospace giant Boeing closed up by 0.8 percent after reporting first quarter earnings of $0.78 per share on revenues of $14.9 billion. Analysts had expected earnings of $0.72 per share on revenues of $15.13 billion. The company also reaffirmed its 2011 guidance.
 

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