FKLI Related News (Thurs, Apr 11)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks climbed 1 percent on Wednesday, with both the Dow and S&P 500 ending at historic highs as cyclical shares led the way higher for a second straight day. The S&P 500 finally joined the new all-time intraday high club, surging past a record set on October 11, 2007. The index has struggled to breach the level of 1,576.09 for the past several weeks, but broke above it on Wednesday to rise as high as 1,589.07. The Dow also hit another intraday milestone, rising as high as 14,826.66. With the day's gains, major indexes are up about 10 percent for the year, but many investors viewed the strength in cyclicals - groups closely tied to the pace of economic growth - as a sign that the rally still has staying power.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average (.DJT), viewed as a leading indicator for the broader market, rose 1.8 percent. Tech was the day's strongest group, with the S&P technology sector index (.SPLRCT) up 1.8 percent. The sector also got a boost from Facebook Inc (FB.O), which jumped 3.7 percent to $27.57. The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) jumped 128.78 points, or 0.88 percent, to 14,802.24 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) climbed 19.12 points, or 1.22 percent, to 1,587.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) shot up 59.40 points, or 1.83 percent, to close at 3,297.25. The day marked the best session for both the Dow and the S&P 500 since February 27, and the best for the Nasdaq since January 2. The Nasdaq climbed to a session high of 3,299.15, its highest since November 2000. The CBOE Volatility index (.VIX), a measure of investor anxiety, fell 3.7 percent. Stockton added that if the S&P 500 held above its old high, "the next target would be 1,780."

The Federal Reserve unexpectedly released the minutes from its most recent policy-setting meeting five hours early. The minutes showed a few policymakers expected to taper the pace of asset purchases by mid-year and end them later this year, while several others expected to slow the pace a bit later and halt the quantitative easing program by year-end. Accommodative monetary policy from the Fed has been credited with helping to boost equity prices, and uncertainty surrounding the minutes briefly hit indexes in the premarket session, though they subsequently recovered. "The only way quantitative easing will be tapered off is if the labor market shows noticeable improvement, and the most recent data doesn't show that," said Northern Trust's McDonald, referring to the March payroll report, which fell sharply short of expectations. "QE will only be taken away when we're in a self-sustaining recovery. We're not there yet, which points to the Fed continuing to stimulate the economy."

Stocks on Bursa Malaysia ended firmer yesterday with the benchmark FBM KLCI ended at a new all-time high, lifted by persistent buying in heavyweights. The previous all-time high was 1,694.16 recorded on Jan 7, 2013. The FBM KLCI rose 5.93 points or 0.35% to 1,696.2 after hovering between 1,687.91 and 1,697.51 throughout the day. FKLI spot month contract opened higher this morning following Dow and S&P’s record high close as Wall Street rallies. Today’s Support and Resistance for April contract is located around 1,690 and 1,710 respectively.