Malaysia Stock Market May Head South Again On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the three-day slide in which it had fallen almost 15 points or 1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,470-point plateau although it's expected to hand back those gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuing concerns over the health of the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the plantation stocks and a mixed performance from the telecoms.

For the day, the index added 5.80 points or 0.40 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,468.35 after trading between 1,462.41.

Among the actives, while Axiata slumped 0.68 percent, CIMB Group lost 0.17 percent, Dialog Group and IOI Corporation both surged 2.60 percent, Digi.com added 0.80 percent, Genting Malaysia retreated 0.75 percent, IHH Healthcare advanced 0.84 percent, INARI sank 0.38 percent, Maybank declined 0.80 percent, Maxis and RHB Capital both gained 0.53 percent, MISC jumped 1.55 percent, MRDIY skidded 0.49 percent, Petronas Chemicals skyrocketed 3.96 percent, PPB Group tumbled 1.04 percent, Press Metal spiked 2.22 percent, Public Bank shed 0.23 percent, Sime Darby soared 2.33 percent, Sime Darby Plantations climbed 1.15 percent, Telekom Malaysia rallied 1.57 percent, Tenaga Nasional dropped 0.33 percent and Genting and Kuala Lumpur Kepong were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened deep in the red and the losses accelerated as the day progressed.

The Dow tumbled 348.99 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 33,037.49, while the NASDAQ plunged 233.25 points or 2.18 percent to close at 10,476.12 and the S&P 500 dropped 56.05 points or 1.45 percent to end at 3,822.39.

The pullback on Wall Street came as some traders cashed in on Wednesday's gains amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the global economy.

Stocks saw further downside following the release of a report from the Conference Board showing a continued slump by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of November.

Crude oil futures pared early gains and settled lower on Thursday, snapping a three-day winning streak as the dollar advanced on rate hike bets. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended $0.80 lower at $77.49 a barrel, falling from a high of $79.90 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will provide November data for consumer prices later today. Inflation is expected to rise 3.9 percent on year, easing from 4.0 percent in October.