Malaysian shares seen down; planters may gain

 KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Malaysian shares are
expected to open lower on Friday after steep losses on Wall
Street but plantation stocks may buck the trend after a rebound
in crude palm oil and soyoil prices.

 The benchmark composite index may trade in a range between
1,120 points and 1,140 points, said Stephen Soo, technical
analyst at TA Securities.

 "The market may have a weak opening but I also expect gains
in plantation stocks to help the local bourse to bounce back
from its recent lows later today," said Soo.

 The analyst said sentiment may stabilise as development on
the political front did not deteriorate as many had expected.

 Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was formally charged with
sodomy and was granted bail by a court on Thursday, letting him
campaign in a by-election on which he is staking his political
future after a 10-year absence.

 This would allow the former deputy premier to contest in a
Aug. 26 by-election in which he is the favourite.[ID:nSP243057]

 On Thursday, the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index
.KLSE lost 0.4 percent to close at 1,129.56 points. The
August index futures KLIQ8 put the index at 1,114.0 points.

 Here are news stories and factors that may affect the
Malaysian stock market on Friday. ------------------MARKET
SNAPSHOT @ 00:02 GMT ---------------

                  INSTRUMENT      LAST    PCT CHG NET CHG

 S&P 500          .SPX       1,266.07  -1.79%  -23.120

 USD/JPY          <JPY=>       109.37     0.05%   0.050

 10-YR US TSY YLD <US10YT=RR>  3.931      --      0.004

 SPOT GOLD        <XAU=>       $872.75    0.18%   1.550

 US CRUDE         CLc1       $119.87   -0.12%  -0.150

 DOW JONES        .DJI       11431.43  -1.93%  -224.64

 ASIA ADRS        .BKAS      138.44    -2.89%  -4.12
------------------------------------------------------------

 MAYBANK TO MEET INDONESIA REGULATOR MONDAY-PAPER

 -- Malaysia's top lender Maybank (MBBM.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) may be meeting
with Indonesian banking regulator, possibly on Monday, to
discuss its stalled purchase of Bank Internasional Indonesia
(BII) BNII.JK, the Business Times reported on Friday, citing
unnamed sources. > Malaysia Anwar charged with sodomy, granted
bail [ID:nSP243057] > Malaysia international reserves at $125.1
bln  [ID:nKLA007808] > Malaysia sees strong growth in 2008     

   [ID:nKLR294750] > Fuel hedges prove costly gamble for
Asian airlines [nSP182725] > ASEAN to set up oil stockpiling
working group    [ID:nSP57586] > Malaysia July palm reserves
seen slipping       [ID:nSP330823] > Indian firms renege on
palm oil import deals      [nDEL261185] > Palm rebounds 2
percent on crude oil, soyoil    [ID:nJAK39790] > US soy futures
higher on bounce from 4-mth low [ID:nN07347662] > SE Asian
Stocks-Thailand up on Thaksin exile talk        [.SO] > US
STOCKS-AIG, Wal-Mart spark sell-off on Wall Street     [.N] >
Oil rises on pipeline fire in Turkey                     [O/R]
> Dollar gains on strong housing data, ECB rate view     
[USD/] > TREASURIES-Bonds rally on weak economy, strong auction
 [US/] > Gold ends down as dollar up on U.S. home data [GOL/]

    (Reporting by Soo Ai Peng, editing by David Chance)