Malaysia Stock Market May Hand Back Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finished through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost a dozen points or 0.9 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,390-point plateau although it may head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with strength from crude oil prices offset by likely profit taking. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financials, telecoms and plantations.

For the day, the index picked up 6.88 points or 0.50 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,388.61 after moving as low as 1,373.15.

Among the actives, Axiata added 0.76 percent, CIMB Group sank 0.40 percent, Dialog Group gained 0.47 percent, Genting soared 5.33 percent, IHH Healthcare spiked 2.76 percent, Inari retreated 1.10 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong plummeted 5.15 percent, Maxis skyrocketed 10.71 percent, Maybank lost 0.35 percent, MRDIY plunged 2.53 percent, Petronas Chemicals tumbled 1.60 percent, Press Metal surged 6.38 percent, Public Bank collected 0.52 percent, RHB Capital rose 0.38 percent, Sime Darby Plantations perked 0.23 percent, Tenaga Nasional rallied 0.99 percent and PPB Group, Sime Darby, Telekom Malaysia, IOI Corporation, Celcomdigi, Genting Malaysia, MISC, QL Resources and Nestle Malaysia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday but slumped late to finish in the red.

The Dow shed 108.98 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 34,299.12, while the NASDAQ dropped 93.23 points or 0.68 percent to close at 13,689.57 and the S&P 500 sank 16.25 points or 0.37 percent to end at 4,409.59.

For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.3 percent, the S&P 500 jumped2.6 percent and the Dow advanced 1.3 percent.

The late-day weakness on Wall Street reflected profit taking as traders looked to cash in after the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ hit their best closing levels in over a year, while the Dow set a new six-month closing high.

In economic news, inflation expectations edged down to 3.0 percent in June from 3.1 percent in May, again staying within the narrow 2.9-3.1 percent range. The decrease in inflation expectations may add to recent investor optimism that the Federal Reserve won't follow through on its plan to continue raising interest rates.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid hopes about higher refinery demand and that further stimulus in China will help boost growth in the world's second largest economy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $1.16 or 1.6 percent at $71.78 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 2.3 percent in the week.