The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had stumbled nearly 50 points or 3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,630-point plateau and it figures to hold steady in that neighborhood again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian is murky on reports that supply issues may delay the coronavirus vaccine rollout. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The KLCI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and rubber glove makers.
For the day, the index jumped 29.54 points or 1.85 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,628.26 after trading as low as 1,599.36. Volume was 12.372 billion shares worth 6.169 billion ringgit. There were 907 gainers and 401 decliners.
Among the actives, RHB Capital skyrocketed 5.81 percent, while Petronas Chemicals surged 4.13 percent, PPB Group soared 3.80 percent, Axiata spiked 3.78 percent, Public Bank accelerated 3.68 percent, Digi.com rallied 2.94 percent, Press Metal perked 2.72 percent, Maxis jumped 2.44 percent, Genting Malaysia climbed 2.40 percent, Hartalega Holdings gathered 2.08 percent, Tenaga Nasional advanced 1.85 percent, Sime Darby Plantations added 1.79 percent, IHH Healthcare tumbled 1.79 percent, Sime Darby gained 1.73 percent, Top Glove rose 1.50 percent, Genting increased 1.45 percent, CIMB Group collected 1.32 percent, AMMB Holdings improved 0.93 percent, Dialog Group sank 0.55 percent, IOI Corporation dropped 0.45 percent, Maybank strengthened 0.36 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong was up 0.26 percent and Malaysia Airports Holdings was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as stocks opened higher on Thursday but faded as the day progressed to end mixed and little changed.
The Dow added 85.73 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 29,969.52, while the NASDAQ rose 27.82 points or 0.23 percent to end at 12,377.18 and the S&P 500 eased 2.29 points or 0.06 percent to close at 3,666.72.
The late-day pullback on Wall Street followed reports that said Pfizer (PFE) expects to ship half of the coronavirus vaccines it originally planned for this year because of supply-chain problems.
The strength seen earlier in the day followed a Labor Department report showing a much bigger than expected decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.
Traders also kept an eye on Washington as lawmakers resumed negotiations over a new fiscal stimulus bill. Both Democrats and Republicans have offered new stimulus proposals, although it remains to be seen if they will finally reach an agreement after months of stagnation.
Crude oil futures settled higher Thursday after OPEC said it will pare current production cuts of 7.7 million barrels per day to 7.2 million barrels per day beginning in January. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.36 or 0.8 percent at $45.64 a barrel.
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