Soft Start Anticipated For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for Malaysia Day, the Malaysia stock market had finished lower in four straight sessions, slipping almost 35 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,465-point plateau and it's likely to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on fears for the global economy and concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the glove makers and mixed performances from the financials, plantations and telecoms.

For the day, the index dipped 1.13 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 1,467.31 after trading between 1,466.33 and 1,478.54. Volume was 2.623 billion shares worth 2.667 billion ringgit. There were 415 decliners and 379 gainers.

Among the actives, Axiata plunged 3.45 percent, while CIMB Group lost 0.37 percent, Dialog Group surged 4.09 percent, Digi.com declined 1.98 percent, Genting dropped 0.67 percent, Hartalega Holdings tumbled 2.44 percent, IHH Healthcare jumped 1.94 percent, INARI rallied 1.08 percent, IOI Corporation plummeted 4.90 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong skidded 0.82 percent, Maybank rose 0.11 percent, Maxis advanced 0.80 percent, MISC added 0.42 percent, MRDIY retreated 0.94 percent, Petronas Chemicals slumped 0.92 percent, PPB Group soared 3.52 percent, Press Metal spiked 2.16 percent, Public Bank collected 0.68 percent, RHB Capital eased 0.18 percent, Sime Darby shed 0.45 percent, Sime Darby Plantations perked 0.23 percent, Telekom Malaysia sank 0.69 percent, Tenaga Nasional fell 0.23 percent, Top Glove tanked 2.55 percent and Genting Malaysia and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened firmly lower and stayed that was throughout the session.

The Dow slumped 139.38 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 30,822.42, while the NASDAQ dropped 104.00 points or 0.90 percent to close at 11,448.40 and the S&P 500 fell 28.02 points or 0.72 percent to end at 3,873.33.

For the week, the Dow tumbled 4.1 percent, the S&P 500 plunged 4.8 percent and the NASDAQ plummeted 5.5 percent.

A steep drop by shares of FedEx (FDX) fueled the weakness on Wall Street, with the delivery giant plunging 21.4 percent to a two-year closing low. The sell-off by FedEx came after the company reported weaker than expected preliminary fiscal Q1 results and withdrew its full-year guidance.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates also continued to weigh on the markets ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision this week. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, although some see an outside chance for a 100-point rate hike.

Crude oil futures settled roughly flat on Friday following the resumption of oil exports from Iraq's Basra oil terminal, where a spillage had forced disruptions. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for October settled at $85.11 a barrel, up $0.01 from the previous close. WTI crude futures shed nearly 2 percent in the week.