Rebound Anticipated For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market gave up less than a single point on Friday, but that was enough to snap the six-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 45 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,450-point plateau although it's predicted to bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing inflation concerns and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished barely lower on Friday following losses from the plantations and mixed performances from the financials and telecoms.

For the day, the index eased 0.92 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 1,450.35 after trading between 1,446.46 and 1,454.24.

Among the actives, Axiata rose 0.38 percent, while Celcomdigi gained 0.46 percent, Dialog Group plummeted 2.17 percent, Genting gathered 0.23 percent, Genting Malaysia declined 1.15 percent, IHH Healthcare eased 0.17 percent, IOI Corporation slumped 0.96 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong retreated 1.28 percent, Maxis fell 0.25 percent, MISC sank 0.55 percent, MRDIY surged 2.74 percent, Petronas Chemicals advanced 0.59 percent, PPB Group tumbled 1.44 percent, Press Metal rallied 0.81 percent, Public Bank collected 0.73 percent, RHB Capital shed 0.35 percent, Sime Darby skidded 0.92 percent, Sime Darby Plantations stumbled 1.09 percent, Telekom Malaysia dropped 0.78 percent, Tenaga Nasional and Hong Leong Bank both lost 0.31 percent, Westports Holdings added 0.57 percent and CIMB Group, Maybank, AMMB Holdings and Nestle 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 jumped 176.59 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 35,459.29, while the NASDAQ surged 266.56 points or 1.90 percent to end at 14,316.66 and the S&P 500 advanced 44.82 points or 0.99 percent to close at 4,582.23.

The strength on Wall Street was the result of encouraging earnings updates from top tech firms and data showing a slowdown in the annual rate of growth in consumer prices in June.

Easing worries about interest rates following the Federal Reserve hinting at a pause in hikes as early as September helped as well.

The slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth may ease concerns about the outlook for interest rates following Thursday's better-than-expected economic data.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday, and the most active futures contract posted gains for the fifth straight week amid easing U.S. recession fears and on optimism over increased demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for September added $0.49 or 0.6 percent at $80.58 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 4.6 percent in the week.