Malaysia Stock Market May Head South Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 7 points or 0.5 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,480-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates and a global recession. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the plantation stocks and financials, while the telecoms were mixed and the glove makers were soft.

For the day, the index gained 11.41 points or 0.78 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,478.54 after trading as low as 1,459.31.

Among the actives, Axiata spiked 2.03 percent, while CIMB Group and RHB Capital both collected 0.52 percent, Dialog Group retreated 0.86 percent, Genting strengthened 0.90 percent, Genting Malaysia jumped 1.52 percent, Hartalega Holdings and Tenaga Nasional both slumped 0.65 percent, IHH Healthcare tumbled 1.69 percent, INARI dipped 0.38 percent, IOI Corporation surged 7.86 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong soared 3.52 percent, Maybank rose 0.23 percent, Maxis lost 0.53 percent, MISC advanced 0.56 percent, MRDIY accelerated 2.00 percent, Petronas Chemicals climbed 0.59 percent, PPB Group rallied 1.94 percent, Press Metal sank 0.61 percent, Sime Darby fell 0.45 percent, Sime Darby Plantations skyrocketed 9.66 percent, Telekom Malaysia added 0.39 percent, Top Glove declined 1.36 percent and Digi.com and Public Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 281.74 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 32,920.46, while the NASDAQ dropped 105.09 points or 0.97 percent to close at 10,705.41 and the S&P 500 sank 43.39 points or 1.11 percent to end at 3,852.36.

For the week, the NASDAQ plunged 2.7 percent, the S&P declined 2.1 percent and the Dow retreated 1.7 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the economy. The Fed's hawkish tone in its latest monetary policy announcement has added to worries about the central bank's aggressive rate hikes tipping the economy into a recession.

While inflation has recently shown signs of slowing, the Fed signaled it plans to continue raising interest rates next year.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to a global economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down by $1.82 or 2.4 percent at $74.29 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 4.4 percent in the week.