Malaysia Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday ended the two-day losing streak in which it had eased just over 3 points or 0.2 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,535-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky to lower, weighed by pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index rose 5.17 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 1,533.55 after trading between 1,529.30 and 1,534.53.

Among the actives, Axiata and Tenaga Nasional both rallied 0.72 percent, while Celcomdigi spiked 1.65 percent, CIMB Group jumped 0.79 percent, Genting advanced 0.61 percent, IHH Healthcare gathered 0.16 percent, IOI Corporation gained 0.25 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and RHB Capital both rose 0.18 percent, Maxis added 0.27 percent, Maybank increased 0.32 percent, MISC soared 2.00 percent, MRDIY surged 4.14 percent, Petronas Chemicals improved 0.58 percent, PPB Group perked 0.13 percent, Press Metal climbed 0.66 percent, Public Bank collected 0.46 percent, Sime Darby slumped 0.40 percent, Sime Darby Plantations accelerated 1.35 percent, Telekom Malaysia and QL Resources stumbled 1.02 percent, YTL Power plunged 2.80 percent, YTL Corporation plummeted 5.22 percent and Genting Malaysia, Petronas Gas and Nestle Malaysia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and spent most of the session in the red before finishing under water.

The Dow dropped 145.11 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 38,627.99, while the NASDAQ tumbled 130.55 points or 0.82 percent to close at 15,775.65 and the S&P 500 sank 24.16 points or 0.48 percent to end at 5,005.57.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of a Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in January.

Following last week's hotter-than expected consumer price inflation figures, the data added to concerns the Federal Reserve will postpone cutting interest rates longer than investors had hoped.

However, the negative sentiment was partly offset by a separate report from the University of Michigan showing an uptick in consumer sentiment in February.

Oil price climbed higher on Friday, lifting the most active WTI Crude futures to a 11-week high, on concerns about potential supply disruptions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.16 at $79.19 a barrel.