Malaysia Shares Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had risen more than 15 points or 1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,625-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, telecoms and plantations.

For the day, the index fell 6.60 points or 0.40 percent to finish at 1,625.67 after trading between 1,623.81 and 1,630.96. Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail advanced 0.94 percent, while AMMB Holdings gained 0.35 percent, Axiata, SD Guthrie and Sunway all sank 0.37 percent, CIMB Group skidded 0.53 percent, Gamuda perked 0.19 percent, IHH Healthcare rose 0.24 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong contracted 0.65 percent, Maxis tumbled 0.96 percent, Maybank dipped 0.20 percent, MISC was up 0.13 percent, MRDIY plummeted 3.14 percent, Nestle Malaysia added 0.44 percent, Petronas Chemicals tanked 2.00 percent, Petronas Dagangan surrendered 1.52 percent, PPB Group stumbled 1.69 percent, Press Metal retreated 1.08 percent, Public Bank fell 0.23 percent, QL Resources gathered 0.23 percent, RHB Bank shed 0.29 percent, Sime Darby plunged 2.90 percent, Telekom Malaysia declined 0.83 percent, Tenaga Nasional slumped 0.59 percent, YTL Corporation dropped 0.40 percent, YTL Power lost 0.26 percent and Celcomdigi, IOI Corporation and Petronas Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Friday but hugged the line for most of the day before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 309.74 points or 0.65 percent to finish t 47,147.48, while the NASDAQ rose 30.23 points or 0.13 percent to close at 22,900.59 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.38 points or 0.05 percent to end at 6,734.11. For the week, the NASDAQ dipped 0.5 percent, the Dow rose 0.3 percent and the S&P perked 0.1 percent.

Weakness among technology stocks continued to weigh on Wall Street early in the session amid lingering valuation concerns. However, gains from tech heavyweights Nvidia (NVDA), Palantir Technologies (PLTR) and Tesla (TSLA) dragged the NASDAQ into the green.

While some traders used the initial slump as an opportunity to pick up stocks at reduced levels, buying interest remained somewhat subdued amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Recent comments from Federal Reserve officials and indications that key U.S. economic data may never be released due to the government shutdown have reduced confidence that the central bank will lower interest rates next month.

Crude oil prices rallied on Friday after a Ukrainian drone attack damaged an oil depot in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $1.28 or 2.2 percent at $59.97 a barrel.