FBM KLCI on our Malaysian bourse to move sideways

Even though Wall Street extended its gains last night – its key equity indices rose between 0.9% and 1.3% on better economic data – we suspect Asian investors would be keeping an eye on the U.S. stock futures performance for market direction today.

This morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average Sep futures contract lost ground (partly due to news that the CEO of Apple has resigned) to hover at a 73-point discount to the spot rate. We expect the benchmark FBM KLCI on our Malaysian bourse to move sideways with a marginal positive bias ahead after declining by 13.2-point yesterday.

In terms of corporate developments, among the listed companies that reported below expectations financial results last evening were Kinsteel, Kossan Rubber and LM Cement. More earnings announcements are due to be made later today, including from Maxis (during lunch hours), Sime Darby and Genting/Genting Malaysia. Separately, EPIC could be in the limelight after getting an unconditional takeover offer to buy its shares at RM3.10 each, which will also involve a cash compensation scheme to the shareholders who have sold their EPIC shares between 10 Dec 2010 and 23 Aug 2011.