Losing Streak May Continue For Malaysia Shares

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 25 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,465-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. 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 financial shares and telecoms, while the plantations were mixed.

For the day, the index fell 6.11 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 1,464.64 after trading between 1,463.75 and 1,471.30.

Among the actives, Axiata fell 0.33 percent, while CIMB Group slumped 0.56 percent, Dialog Group plummeted 2.34 percent, Digi.com plunged 2.13 percent, Genting Malaysia retreated 1.04 percent, IHH Healthcare gained 0.51 percent, IOI Corporation dipped 0.26 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 0.27 percent, Maybank was down 0.23 percent, Maxis tumbled 1.47 percent, MISC surrendered 1.36 percent, MRDIY added 0.54 percent, Petronas Chemicals eased 0.12 percent, PPB Group shed 0.45 percent, Press Metal perked 0.19 percent, Public Bank collected 0.24 percent, RHB Capital sank 0.54 percent, Sime Darby lost 0.43 percent, Sime Darby Plantations declined 1.15 percent, Telekom Malaysia tanked 2.12 percent, Tenaga Nasional improved 0.21 percent and Genting, INARI and Nestle were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages were unable to hold on to early gains on Thursday, sinking into the red by midday and ending at daily lows.

The Dow tumbled 249.13 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 33,699.88, while the NASDAQ slumped 120.94 points or 1.02 percent to close at 11,789.58 and the S&P 500 sank 36.36 points or 0.88 percent to end at 4,081.50.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street partly reflected ongoing interest rate concerns following hawkish comments by some Federal Reserve officials.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by slightly more than expected last week.

Crude oil futures ended lower Thursday as rising crude inventories in the U.S. and prospects of more interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $78.06 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will release Q4 numbers for gross domestic product later today, with forecasts calling for an increase of 6.6 percent on year, down from 14.2 percent in the three months prior.