Rally May Stall For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, improving more than 35 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just shy of the 1,630-point plateau, although it's due for profit taking on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower in this holiday-shortened week, with technology stocks likely to be a key drag. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index advanced 14.44 points or 0.89 percent to finish at 1,628.14 after trading between 1,616.69 and 1,632.63.

Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail climbed 1.23 percent, while Axiata fell 0.42 percent, Celcomdigi and Press Metal both jumped 1.67 percent, CIMB Group strengthened 1.37 percent, Gamuda rallied 1.52 percent, IHH Healthcare improved 0.42 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong advanced 0.56 percent, Maxis dropped 0.55 percent, Maybank eased 0.20 percent, MISC perked 0.13 percent, MRDIY sank 0.54 percent, Nestle Malaysia shed 0.53 percent, Petronas Chemicals soared 2.45 percent, Petronas Dagangan stumbled 1.23 percent, PPB Group slid 0.32 percent, Public Bank collected 0.66 percent, QL Resources was down 0.21 percent, RHB Bank added 0.47 percent, Sime Darby slumped 0.85 percent, SD Guthrie spiked 1.86 percent, Sunway rose 0.42 percent, Telekom Malaysia gained 0.45 percent, Tenaga Nasional surged 3.95 percent, YTL Corporation lost 0.38 percent and YTL Power, IOI Corporation and Petronas Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained that way throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 333.59 point or 0.77 percent to finish at 42,992.21, while the NASDAQ slumped 298.37 points or 1.49 percent to close at 19.722.03 and the S&P 500 sank 66.75 points or 1.11 percent to end at 5,970.84.

For the week, the Dow picked up 1.4 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P both advanced 1.5 percent.

The numbers may have been a bit skewed by light volume, with many investors away from their desks on holiday between Christmas and New Year's.

On the economic front, data showed that U.S. retail inventories, excluding autos, increased by 0.6 percent on month in November, following an upwardly revised 0.3 percent rise in the prior month, according to preliminary estimates.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday after data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $70.60 a barrel, gaining about 1.4 percent.