The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering more than 25 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,660-point plateau and its tipped to open in the green again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat ahead of the Federal Reserves monetary policy decision later today. The European markets were up 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 Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and plantation stocks, while the telecoms came in mixed.
For the day, the index improved 12.13 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 1,664.28 after trading between 1,651.55 and 1,664.99.
Among the actives, Celcomdigi strengthened 1.62 percent, while CIMB Group accelerated 2.45 percent, Genting Malaysia slumped 1.26 percent, IHH Healthcare soared 3.98 percent, IOI Corporation rallied 2.10 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong added 0.96 percent, Maxis increased 1.30 percent, Maybank collected 0.19 percent, MISC gained 0.87 percent, Petronas Chemicals climbed 1.45 percent, PPB Group jumped 1.69 percent, Press Metal spiked 2.72 percent, QL Resources surged 4.20 percent, RHB Capital perked 0.16 percent, SD Guthrie improved 1.32 percent, Sunway advanced 1.22 percent, Telekom Malaysia fell 0.15 percent, Tenaga Nasional gathered 0.27 percent, YTL Corporation rose 0.78 percent, YTL Power tumbled 2.46 percent and Axiata, Hong Leong Bank, Public Bank, Sime Darby, Genting and MRDIY were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened slightly higher on Tuesday, hugged the line for most of the day before ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow sank 60.32 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 41,606.18, while the NASDAQ added 35.93 points or 0.20 percent to close at 17,628.06 and the S&P 500 perked 1.49 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,634.58.
Optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to early strength on Wall Street, but buying interest waned over the course of the session.
Stocks ended the day little changed following the release of a Commerce Department report unexpectedly showing a modest increase by U.S. retail sales in the month of August.
While the data is positive for the economy, it was seen as reducing the likelihood the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by 50 basis points when announcing its highly anticipated monetary policy decision later today.
Oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday as concerns about tight supply in the market offset continued uncertainty about the outlook for demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.10 or 1.5 percent at $71.19 a barrel.