US/MALAYSIA MARKET MORNING QUOTES

Malaysian stocks seen firmer

MALAYSIAN shares are likely to firm today, following gains on the Wall Street overnight, where the market was boosted by news that the US Federal Reserve would buy government debt in a bid to boost the recession-hit economy.
“At this point, corporate news flow in Malaysia is pretty thin, and the market is mostly following the other regional markets, and taking clues from the Wall Street,” said a a dealer at a local bank.
Yesterday, the main index recorded its biggest daily gain in 5 weeks to close at a one-week high, which one dealer said was largely a technical rebound in oversold large cap stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded from a weak start and climbed 90.88 points (1.23 per cent) to close at 7,486.58. – Reuters

Wall Street gyrates, then rallies

NEW YORK: Wall Street swung higher Wednesday in volatile trade as the market was energised by a surprise Federal Reserve decision to add US$1.15 trillion to its efforts to ignite an economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded from a weak start and climbed 90.88 points (1.23 per cent) to close at 7,486.58, pulling back from an intraday gain of over 170 points.
The Nasdaq composite jumped 29.11 points (1.99 per cent) to 1,491.22 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index rallied 16.23 points (2.09 per cent) to 794.35, marking the sixth gain in seven sessions for Wall Street.
The market struggled for most of the session until the surprise announcement by the Fed that it would buy up to US$300 billion in long-term Treasury bonds and an additional US$850 billion in other debt in a further bid to bring down lending costs and fire up the moribund economy.

Cary Leahey, economist at Decision Economics, said the Fed action was “wildly bullish for bonds, and less so for equities but it is positive since the Fed it’s willing ... to buy anything and everything.”
Leahey said the Fed declined to acknowledge signs of economic improvement, opting instead to take an aggressive strategy to ensure that a recovery takes root.
“You could spin it as a sign (Fed officials) are really scared, but I think conditions are better than they were six weeks ago,” he said.
Julia Coronado at Barclays Capital said Fed officials “have concluded they cannot wait around for the Treasury and Congress to solve the problems and need to be more aggressive in getting financial markets moving.”
Coronado said the initiative would likely have “a huge impact” on the economy by bringing down many lending rates that the central bank cannot directly control. - AFP