Little Movement Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday halted the five-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 15 points or 1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,610-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets mostly saw slight weakness and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the industrials and telecoms, while the financials and plantations were mixed.

For the day, the index added 6.67 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 1,608.75 after trading between 1,603.74 and 1,611.98.

Among the actives, Axiata rose 0.42 percent, while Celcomdigi and Maxis both shed 0.56 percent, Genting improved 0.84 percent, Genting Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur Kepong both gained 0.47 percent, MISC jumped 1.49 percent, MRDIY lost 0.55 percent, Nestle Malaysia rallied 1.24 percent, Petronas Chemicals fell 0.20 percent, PPB Group dropped 0.94 percent, Press Metal surged 2.02 percent, QL Resources increased 0.63 percent, RHB Bank eased 0.15 percent, Sime Darby advanced 0.85 percent, SD Guthrie sank 0.80 percent, Sunway and Telekom Malaysia both soared 1.96 percent, Tenaga Nasional climbed 1.18 percent, YTL Corporation spiked 1.88 percent, YTL Power added 0.54 percent and IHH Healthcare, IOI Corporation, CIMB Group, Maybank and Public Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild downside as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly slipped under water and largely stayed that way, although the NASDAQ broke back into positive territory later in the day.

The Dow shed 86.04 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 43,828.06, while the NASDAQ rose 23.92 points or 0.12 percent to close at 19,926.72 and the S&P 500 eased 0.16 points or 0.00 percent to end at 6,051.09.

For the week, the NASDAQ rose 0.3 percent, the S&P 500 slid 0.6 percent and the narrower Dow tumbled 1.8 percent.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Broadcom (AVGO), which reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter earnings and said it expects continued strong demand for its custom AI chips.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders looked ahead to this week's Federal Reserve meeting. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another 25 basis points, although traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about future rate cuts.

Oil futures settled higher on Friday as supply worries resurfaced following additional sanctions on Iran and Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $1.27 or about 1.8 percent at $71.29 a barrel.