Losing Streak May Continue For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, slipping almost 50 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,555-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares expected to lead the markets lower. 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 lower on Thursday following losses from the plantations and telecoms, while the financial shares came in mixed.

For the day, the index lost 6.58 points or 0.42 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,555.54 after peaking at 1,576.57.

Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail retreated 1.30 percent, while Axiata stumbled 1.75 percent, Celcomdigi rose 0.27 percent, CIMB Group jumped 1.78 percent, Gamuda plummeted 4.27 percent, IHH Healthcare perked 0.14 percent, IOI Corporation dipped 0.27 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong slid 0.29 percent, Maxis skidded 0.56 percent, MISC advanced 0.85 percent, MRDIY added 0.59 percent, Nestle Malaysia dropped 0.54 percent, Petronas Chemicals shed 0.43 percent, Petronas Dagangan rallied 2.02 percent, PPB Group declined 0.83 percent, Press Metal lost 0.41 percent, Public Bank eased 0.23 percent, RHB Bank fell 0.31 percent, Sime Darby tumbled 0.93 percent, SD Guthrie was down 0.21 percent, Sunway tanked 2.15 percent, Telekom Malaysia slipped 0.16 percent, Tenaga Nasional plunged 2.81 percent, YTL Corporation sank 0.46 percent, YTL Power slumped 0.78 percent and QL Resources, Maybank and Hong Leong Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly turned lower, spending most of the day in the red before finishing under water.

The Dow sank 68.42 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 43,153.13, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.95 points or 0.89 percent to close at 19,338.29 and the S&P 500 slipped 12.57 points or 0.21 percent to end at 5,937.34.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to assess the near-term outlook for the markets following Wednesday's rally, which saw the major averages post their largest daily percentage gains in over two months.

Traders were also digesting a slew of U.S. economic data, including reports on weekly jobless claims, retail sales and import prices.

The data was largely in line with expectations and maintained optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the first half of this year.

Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday after Israel and Hamas agreed to implement a ceasefire agreement that was drafted and approved by the UN Security Council. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled lower by $1.36 or 1.7 percent at $78.68 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will see preliminary Q4 numbers for gross domestic product later today; in the three months prior, GDP was up 5.3 percent on year.