Malaysia Bourse May Give Up Support At 1,600 Points

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has ticked lower in five straight sessions, slipping more than 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,600-point plateau and it's looking at another weak lead for Friday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares likely to lead the way lower. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished barely lower on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, telecoms and plantation stocks.

For the day, the index eased 1.12 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 1,602.08 after trading between 1,597.12 and 1,605.95.

Among the actives, Axiata lost 0.42 percent, while Celcomdigi tumbled 1.92 percent, CIMB Group gathered 0.25 percent, Genting Malaysia sank 0.47 percent, IHH Healthcare perked 0.14 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong eased 0.09 percent, Maxis added 0.85 percent, Maybank collected 0.20 percent, MRDIY rose 0.55 percent, Petronas Dagangan surged 2.19 percent, PPB Group dropped 0.78 percent, Press Metal increased 0.41 percent, Public Bank slumped 0.87 percent, QL Resources gained 0.64 percent, RHB Bank shed 0.46 percent, Sime Darby advanced 0.86 percent, SD Guthrie climbed 1.01 percent, Sunway soared 2.00 percent, Telekom Malaysia rallied 1.53 percent, Tenaga Nasional retreated 1.45 percent, YTL Power spiked 1.66 percent and Genting, Nestle Malaysia, YTL Corporation, IOI Corporation, Petronas Chemicals and MISC were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday but quickly headed south and remained in the red for the balance of day, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 234.44 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 43,914.12, while the NASDAQ sank 132.05 points or 0.66 percent to close at 19,769.84 and the S&P 500 lost 32.94 points or 0.54 percent to end at 6,051.25.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on the strong performance seen on Wednesday, when the tech-heavy NASDAQ closed above 20,000 for the first time ever.

Some negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of November.

While the Federal Reserve is still widely expected to lower interest rates next week, the data has raised some concerns about how quickly the central bank will cut rates early next year.

Oil futures closed lower Thursday after three days of gains after the International Energy Agency's forecast that the oil market will see excess supply next year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January fell $0.27 or 0.4 percent at $70.02 a barrel.