Continued Strength Expected For Malaysia Shares

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after ending the six-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 40 points or 2.5 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,575-point plateau and it's looking at another solid start on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on upbeat inflation data and support from the oil and technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the plantations and telecoms were capped by weakness among the financial shares.

For the day, the index added 5.91 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 1,575.16 after trading between 1,566.34 and 1,575.57.

Among the actives, Axiata jumped 1.10 percent, while Celcomdigi soared 1.95 percent, CIMB Group retreated 1.05 percent, Genting fell 0.22 percent, Genting Malaysia lumped 0.76 percent, IHH Healthcare rose 0.32 percent, IOI Corporation improved 0.50 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 0.35 percent, Maxis climbed 0.56 percent, Maybank collected 0.10 percent, MISC eased 0.13 percent, MRDIY rallied 1.32 percent, Petronas Chemicals spiked 1.63 percent, PPB Group perked 0.13 percent, Press Metal tumbled 1.47 percent, Public Bank sank 0.47 percent, RHB Capital dipped 0.18 percent, Sime Darby added 0.36 percent, Sime Darby Plantations shed 0.23 percent, Tenaga Nasional advanced 0.51 percent, YTL Corporation skyrocketed 9.39 percent, YTL Power surged 7.28 percent and Telekom Malaysia, QL Resources and Petronas Dagangan were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow climbed 153.86 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 38,239.66, while the NASDAQ surged 316.10 points or 2.02 percent to end at 15,927.90 and the S&P 500 rallied 51.54 points or 1.02 percent to close at 5.099.96.

For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.2 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 2.7 percent and the Dow added 0.7 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came amid a positive reaction to some of the latest earnings news from big-name tech companies such as Alphabet (GOOGL), software giant Microsoft (MSFT) and Snap (SNAP).

Traders also reacted positively to closely watched readings on inflation released by the Commerce Department showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in March.

Treasury yields moved lower following the release of the report, which may have helped mitigate any negative response to the data.

Oil prices edged higher on Friday on optimism about the outlook for oil demand and concerns about supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.28 or 0.34 percent at $83.85 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 0.85 percent in the week.