Soft Start Anticipated For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 15 points or 1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,480-point plateau and it may see continued consolidation on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild downside on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are likely to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index shed 9.71 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 1,481.80 after trading between 1,479.70 and 1,489.36.

Among the actives, Axiata declined 1.56 percent, while CIMB Group tumbled 1.91 percent, Dialog Group advanced 0.87 percent, Genting rose 0.45 percent, Genting Malaysia lost 0.38 percent, IHH Healthcare added 0.69 percent, INARI fell 0.35 percent, IOI Corporation gained 0.52 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong plunged 2.80 percent, Maybank shed 0.46 percent, Maxis stumbled 1.27 percent, MRDIY tanked 2.73 percent, Petronas Chemicals surrendered 1.73 percent, PPB Group climbed 0.94 percent, Press Metal skidded .24 percent, Public Bank retreated 1.34 percent, RHB Capital sank 0.54 percent, Sime Darby Plantations rallied 2.04 percent, Telekom Malaysia dropped 0.53 percent, Tenaga Nasional slumped 1.26 percent and Top Glove, MISC, Digi.com, Hartalega Holdings, Sime Darby and Petronas Dagangan were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday but improved all session, finally ending mixed but little changed.

The Dow rose 34.87 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,429.88, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.95 points or 0.18 percent to close at 11,461.50 and the S&P 500 fell 4.87 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,071.70.

The early weakness on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which showed stronger than expected job growth in November.

While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data has added to lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

The Federal Reserve is likely to slow the pace of interest rate hikes as early as next month, but continued labor market tightness may still lead the central bank to raise rates higher than currently anticipated.

Crude oil futures slumped on Friday ahead of OPEC's meeting over the weekend and the European Unio's cap of Russian crude. West Texas Intermediate shed 1.24 per 1,5 percent to $79.98 per barrel.