Malaysian Stocks - Market seen weak, palm oil in focus

(Adds item on TH Plantations at bottom)

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm-oil stocks
are expected to rally on Wednesday in a largely lacklustre
market after crude oil prices hit another record high.

Palm oil, used as an alternative fuel to petroleum, is down
from its record peaks of March, but the commodity has climbed
11 percent in the past six weeks in tandem with soaring crude.

The plantation sector, which includes blue chips such as
IOI Corp (IOIB.KL), Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLKK.KL) and Sime
Darby (SIME.KL), is up 8.5 percent over the same six weeks,
though it had a bad day on Tuesday after a dip in palm-oil
prices.

One broker said the price of crude oil, now nearing $130 a
barrel, was so high that even die-hard plantation investors
would begin to have second thoughts.

"The die-hard fans out there know that these are not
sustainable prices," the dealer said.

The plantation sector is trading at about 15 times
current-year forecast earnings, compared with just over 13 for
the wider market.

On Tuesday, the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index
.KLSE lost 0.51 percent to 1,286,54 points. IOI Corp and Sime
Darby fell 2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Dealers said the wider market was expected to move sideways
or fall on Wednesday, though lender AMMB Holdings Bhd (AMMB.KL)
could also be in focus after it reported a dramatic turnaround
in its bottom line for the fourth quarter.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2300 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1403.04 -0.04% -0.540
USD/JPY JPY= 104.63 -0.05% -0.050
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.9131 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD XAU= 865.65 0.02% 0.150
US CRUDE CLc1 125.87 0.06% 0.070
DOW JONES .DJI 12832.18 -0.34% -44.13
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 163.79 0.40% 0.65
-------------------------------------------------------------
>US STOCKS-Oil, financials hit Dow; techs lift Nasdaq
[.N] >Oil hits record near $127 as Iran mulls output cut
[O/R] >FOREX-Dollar rallies broadly after retail sales data
[USD/] >TREASURIES-Prices fall on strong sales, dashed rate
hopes [US/] >Gold drops 2 pct on dollar rise, platinum tumbles

[GOL/] >SE Asian Stocks-Indonesia hits 7-week high,
Vietnam falls [.SO] >Malaysia buys 200,000T Thai rice, wants
more [ID:nKLR285022] >Malaysia March factory output misses
forecast [ID:nKLR17262] >Malaysia building sector to grow 5
pct in '08 [ID:nKLA007501] >Malaysia's Proton unit signs MOU
with Spyker [ID:nWNA0127] >Malaysia ends protection for
Proton -report [ID:nKLA007502] >Malaysian palm oil falls on
supply glut fears [ID:nKLR51913] >Telekom Malaysia to invest
$592 mln in Johor [ID:nKLA007500] >Malaysia's Unisem says
China plant survived quake [ID:nWNA0126] >India's Ircon wins
contract for $1.06 bln job [ID:nKLA007499] >Wilmar says palm
oil prices to stay firm [ID:nSGC001983]

LENDER AMMB HOLDINGS BOUNCES BACK INTO BLACK

- Malaysia's fifth-largest lender AMMB Holdings Bhd
(AMMB.KL), bounced back into the black in the fourth quarter,
reporting a net profit of 217.5 million ringgit ($67.61
million) compared with a loss of 551.6 million ringgit a year
earlier.

The result, released on Tuesday night, came from a dramatic
drop in bad-loan charges and a large rise in interest income.

MAA HOLDINGS BHD TO IDENTIFY PARTNER BY JUNE - EDGE

Malaysian insurer MAA Holdings Bhd (MAAS.KL) expects to
identify its strategic partner to acquire a stake in its wholly
owned unit Malaysian Assurance Alliance Bhd by June, the Edge
Financial Daily said on Wednesday.

MAA is in talks with Allianz Insurance Management Asia
Pacific Pte Ltd (ALVG.DE), AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (AXA.AX)
and Affin Holdings Bhd (AFIN.KL) on the possibility of one or
more equity partners for MAA Assurance, the Edge said.

TH PLANTATIONS AIMS TO BOOST ACREAGE BY 50 PCT - PAPER

- TH Plantations Bhd (THPB.KL) aims to boost the size of
its oil-palm estates by 50 percent this year to boost income,
the Business Times said on Wednesday, quoting Managing Director
Rashidi Che Omar.
($1=3.217 Malaysian Ringgit)
(Reporting by Mark Bendeich, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)