Malaysia-Market factors to watch May 19

KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Reuters) - Following is a list of
events in Malaysia as well as news stories and press reports
which may influence financial markets.

(Reuters News welcomes your feedback and for any queries
please contact David Chance in Kuala Lumpur editorial on +603
2333 8033 or via email at david.chance@thomsonreuters.com or on
Reuters messaging david.chance.reuters.com@reuters.net)

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MALAYSIA, ALL TIMES LOCAL FOLLOWED BY
GMT

(The inclusion of diary items does not necessarily mean that
Reuters will cover the event)

- Malaysian mobile phone company Axiata (AXIA.KL) to release
first-quarter net profit. Earnings growth will remain volatile
due to uncertain outlook for both domestic and overseas
operations. Axiata's Indonesian unit Excelcomindo reported on
May 12 a 92 percent drop in first-quarter core net profit while
Sri Lanka's Dialog Telekom reported a Q1 net loss of 1.87
billion rupees, compared with 888.6 million rupees profit in
the year ago period.

- March manufacturing sales MYMFG=ECI data, prior month
-26.1 percent yr/yr, 1201p.m, 0401 GMT

MARKET SNAPSHOTS
* Malaysian shares are likely to open higher on Tuesday as
investor sentiment improves with Wall Street rallying the day
before and crude oil jumping on supply concerns.

"There will be an uptrend but how it gets sustained depends
on construction stocks and whether the volumes actually improve
because so far the gains have been limited to retailers," said
an analyst with an investment bank.

The analyst was looking at construction and engineering
stocks such as MRCB (MYRS.KL), UEM Land (ULHB.KL) and KNM Group
(KNMP.KL). She said planters may tread higher following a
likely rebound in crude palm oil prices on the back of higher
crude oil.

Malaysia's benchmark stock index ended 0.22 percent lower
at 1,012.01 points on Monday. [.KLSE]
* U.S. stocks rallied on Monday as better-than-expected
results from the No. 2 U.S. home improvement retailer, Lowe's
Cos Inc (LOW.N), helped spark broad-based buying on hopes the
recession is easing and consumer spending is stabilizing. [.N]
* Oil prices rose nearly 4.8 percent to a six-month high on
Monday as violence in Africa's top crude exporter Nigeria and a
fire at a key U.S. East Coast refinery revived concern about
supplies. [O/R]
* For global market news, click on [MKTS/GLOB]
* Malaysian palm futures slipped for a third straight day to a
two-week closing low on Monday, extending a drop from a
nine-month peak reached last week amid rival soy prices and
stock markets, traders said.[POI/]
* To see Malaysian central bank regular money market tenders
issued at around 0930 local please click on the following link
here
* To see the top Islamic finance stories from Malaysia and
elsewhere click on [ID:nISLAMIC] ----------------------MARKET
SNAPSHOT @ 2310 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 909.71 3.04% 26.830
USD/JPY JPY= 96.41 0.19% 0.180
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.243 -- 0.009
SPOT GOLD XAU= 917.5 0.03% 0.300
US CRUDE CLc1 59.26 0.39% 0.230
DOW JONES .DJI 8504.08 2.85% 235.44
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 108.31 3.21% 3.37
KLCI .KLSE 1,012.01 -0.22% -2.22
-------------------------------------------------------------
FOR MALAYSIAN ECONOMIC INDICATORS CLICK ON [ID:nKLR476436]
FOR REALTIME MALAYSIAN ECONOMIC INDICATORS, HIT ECONMY
KEY GLOBAL ECONOMIC NEWS, SEE [TOP/MACRO]
TOP NEWS ON ASIAN COMPANIES [TOP/EQA]
FOR ECONOMIC FX RELATED NEWS HIT [FXNEWS]
FOR WHAT INVESTORS ARE SAYING ABOUT DEALS [DEALTALK/]
STOCKS - BUY OR SELL? [BUYSELL/]
IN THE NEWS REUTERS MALAYSIA (Click on [MY-RTRS]) >Boustead Q1
net profit falls 60 percent [ID:nKLR211126] >Malaysia April
total vehicle sales -18.2pct[ID:nKLA008269] >JP Morgan ups
Russian equity, cuts China [ID:nLI237498] >Bursa Malaysia
launches new palm oil indices[ID:nKLR470861] >Malaysia April
CPI seen easing to 12-mth low[ID:nKLR389617] >Malaysian state
fund to sell 5 bln rgt bonds[ID:nKLR489210]
ASIA MARKETS NEWS - Asian stocks are set for a positive start
on Tuesday after Wall street posted strong gains amid hopes
that the recession is easing. [STXNEWS/AS] - The Indian rupee
jumped over 2 percent on Monday after a decisive election
victory for the ruling Congress coalition, bucking general
weakness in Asia as falling regional stocks prompted investors
to unwind risky bets. [EMRG/FRX] - Singapore shares rose more
than 1 percent on Monday, staging a late rebound like other
major Southeast Asian markets, with Singapore
Telecommunications, Thailand's Esso and Indonesia's Bank Rakyat
leading the way.[.SO]

(Reporting by Kuala Lumpur Newsroom)