Continued Consolidation Called For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking almost 10 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,550-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Friday as losses from the telecoms were mitigated by support from the financial shares and a mixed picture from the plantation stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 2.47 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 1,551.04 after trading between 1,548.27 and 1,556.64.

Among the actives, AMMB Holdings gathered 0.24 percent, while Axiata plunged 1.91 percent, Celcomdigi shed 0.71 percent, CIMB Group improved 0.61 percent, Genting retreated 1.28 percent, Genting Malaysia stumbled 1.12 percent, IHH Healthcare and IOI Corporation both gained 0.50 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong sank 0.96 percent, Maxis slid 0.57 percent, Maybank perked 0.21 percent, MISC eased 0.13 percent, MRDIY lost 0.67 percent, Petronas Chemicals skidded 1.03 percent, PPB Group fell 0.63 percent, Press Metal added 0.58 percent, Public Bank dipped 0.24 percent, QL Resources was up 0.16 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.52 percent, Sime Darby Plantations slumped 1.10 percent, Telekom Malaysia dropped 0.98 percent, Tenaga Nasional rose 0.34 percent, YTL Corporation declined 1.14 percent, YTL Power tumbled 1.75 percent and Sime Darby, Petronas Dagangan and Hong Leong Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened lower on Friday and continued to trend lower throughout the day, ending neat session lows.

The Dow plummeted 475.84 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 37,983.24, while the NASDAQ tumbled 267.10 points or 1.62 percent to close at 16,175.09 and the S&P 500 sank 75.65 points or 1.46 percent to end at 5,123.41.

For the week, the Dow dropped 2.5 percent, the S&P lost 1.6 percent and the NASDAQ fell 0.5 percent.

Inflation concerns continued to weigh on the markets as the Labor Department released a report showing import prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in March, which further dampened hopes for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve in June.

Uninspired earnings and guidance also spooked investors as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Intel, Amazon and Goldman Sachs all ended firmly under water.

Oil prices moved higher on Friday amid concerns about the outlook for supply due to rising tensions in the Middle East between Iran and Israel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.64 at $85.66 a barrel.