Malaysia Shares Expected To Be Rangebound On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday snapped the two-day slide in which it had slipped more than 8 points or 0.6 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just shy of the 1,455-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on positive momentum regarding the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished barely higher on Friday following gains from the entertainment companies, weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the plantations and telecoms.

For the day, the index perked 0.63 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 1,453.92 after trading between 1,451.08 and 1,456.05.

Among the actives, AMMB Holdings climbed 1.00 percent, while Axiata retreated 0.83 percent, Celcomdigi skidded 0.48 percent, CIMB Group rose 0.17 percent, Dialog Group stumbled 0.95 percent, Genting surged 3.90 percent, Genting Malaysia soared 2.71 percent, IHH Healthcare declined 0.68 percent, IOI Corporation added 0.50 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Public Bank both dropped 0.47 percent, MRDIY jumped 1.25 percent, Petronas Chemicals spiked 1.96 percent, PPB Group slumped 0.56 percent, Press Metal lost 0.41 percent, Sime Darby Plantations sank 0.46 percent, Telekom Malaysia advanced 0.96 percent, Tenaga Nasional fell 0.20 percent, Westports Holdings rallied 1.15 percent and Maxis, Maybank, MISC, RHB Capital and Sime Darby were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street varies widely as the Dow opened higher on Friday and stayed that way, the NASDAQ opened lower and stayed that way and the S&P bounced back and forth across the line all day and finished barely higher.

The Dow gained 117.15 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 35,390.15, while the NASDAQ dipped 15.05 points or 0.11 percent to close at 14,250.85 and the S&P 500 perked 2.72 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,559.34.

For the holiday-interrupted week, the Dow rose 1.3 percent, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.0 percent and the NASDAQ climbed 0.9 percent.

The choppy action on Wall Street came as many traders remained away from their desks following Thursday's holiday, with the markets closing three hours earlier than usual.

A lack of major U.S. economic data also kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of this week's reports on new home sales, consumer confidence, pending home sales and manufacturing activity.

Oil prices fell sharply Friday, with traders waiting on a crucial OPEC meeting this week as oil producers struggling to come to a consensus on production levels. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $1.56 or 2 percent at $75.54 a barrel.