Soft Start Anticipated For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 25 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,435-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on concerns over the outlook for interest rates, while financial shares are especially likely to fall under pressure. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index stumbled 16.45 points or 1.13 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,433.08 after peaking at 1,445.80.

Among the actives, Axiata and CIMB Group both weakened 1.27 percent, while Dialog Group declined 1.65 percent, Digi.com slumped 1.42 percent, Genting sank 0.86 percent, IHH Healthcare retreated 1.51 percent, INARI and RHB Capital both skidded 1.22 percent, IOI Corporation tanked 2.31 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong lost 0.48 percent, Maybank eased 0.11 percent, Maxis tumbled 2.24 percent, MISC surrendered 1.76 percent, MRDIY spiked 2.41 percent, PPB Group plummeted 2.83 percent, Press Metal plunged 2.41 percent, Public Bank stumbled 1.45 percent, Sime Darby Plantations dropped 1.16 percent, Telekom Malaysia added 0.61 percent, Tenaga Nasional shed 0.74 percent and Petronas Chemicals, Genting Malaysia and Sime Darby were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests consolidation as the major averages spent the morning session relatively unchanged but plummeted in the afternoon, finishing near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 345.26 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 31,909.64, while the NASDAQ tumbled 199.51 points or 1.76 percent to close at 11,138.89 and the S&P 500 slumped 56.73 points or 1.45 percent to end at 3,861.59.

The weakness on Wall Street came as concerns about the potential fallout from the implosions of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Silvergate Capital triggered a sell-off in the financial sector.

Investors also digested the crucial non-farm payroll data for the month of February. The data showing an acceleration in U.S. job growth raised concerns the Fed will continue to remain aggressive with regard to interest rate hikes.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday on Russia's decision to trim oil output by 500,000 barrels per day in March. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $0.96 or 1.3 percent at $76.68 a barrel, rebounding after three successive days of losses.

Closer to home, Malaysia will release January figures for industrial production later today. Production is expected to rise 2.6 percent on year, slowing from 3.0 percent in December. Manufacturing production rose 6.9 percent in the previous month.