Malaysia Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, advancing more than 10 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,430-point plateau although the rally may stall on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uncertain amidst debt ceiling negotiations in the United States. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index perked 0.50 points or 0.04 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,428.54 after moving as low as 1,423.65.

Among the actives, Axiata gained 0.33 percent, while CIMB Group gathered 0.20 percent, Dialog Group retreated 1.36 percent, Genting dropped 0.66 percent, Genting Malaysia added 0.37 percent, INARI and Celcomdigi both advanced 0.45 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 0.26 percent, Maxis and Maybank both increased 0.23 percent, MISC rallied 0.55 percent, MRDIY jumped 0.63 percent, Petronas Chemicals tumbled 2.14 percent, PPB Group improved 0.24 percent, Press Metal spiked 1.06 percent, Public Bank collected 0.25 percent, Sime Darby climbed 0.47 percent, Sime Darby Plantations declined 1.32 percent, Telekom Malaysia sank 0.59 percent, Tenaga Nasional rose 0.31 percent and RHB Capital, IHH Healthcare, IOI Corporation, Nestle Malaysia and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is slightly soft as the major averages opened higher on Friday but slipped into the shortly thereafter and finished the same way.

The Dow dropped 109.27 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 33,426.63, while the NASDAQ sank 30.90 points or 0.24 percent to close at 12,657.90 and the S&P 500 fell 6.07 points or 0.14 percent to end at 4,191.98. For the week, the NASDAQ surged 3.0 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 1.7 percent and the Dow rose 0.4 percent.

The downturn on Wall Street came as Republican negotiators walked out of a meeting over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, offsetting recent optimism about an impending deal.

Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as traders still expect lawmakers to eventually reach a debt ceiling deal.

Comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reinforcing expectations the central bank will leave interest rates unchanged next month also helped limit the downside.

Crude oil futures pared early gains and settled lower on Friday, weighed down by the ambiguity regarding the U.S. debt ceiling talks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June slipped $0.31 or 0.4 percent to $71.55 a barrel; WTI crude futures gained 2.2 percent in the week.