Rebound Anticipated For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market ticked lower again on Friday, one session after ending the three-day slide in which it had fallen more than 10 points or 0.8 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1m375-point plateau although it figures to bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to better than expected inflation data. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, telecoms and plantations.

For the day, the index sank 11.69 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 1,376.68 after trading between 1,370.15 and 1,391.48.

Among the actives, Axiata dropped 0.75 percent, while Celcomdigi plunged 3.75 percent, CIMB Group declined 1.75 percent, Dialog Group plummeted 4.63 percent, Genting tumbled 1.93 percent, Genting Malaysia lost 0.40 percent, IHH Healthcare gained 0.34 percent, IOI Corporation and Westports Holdings both slid 0.27 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong skidded 0.90 percent, Maxis rose .24 percent, Maybank slumped 1.15 percent, MISC eased 0.14 percent, MRDIY advanced 0.63 percent, Petronas Chemicals stumbled 1.48 percent, PPB Group fell 0.38 percent, Press Metal dipped 0.21 percent, Public Bank sank 0.52 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.18 percent, Sime Darby shed 0.49 percent, Sime Darby Plantations tanked 2.12 percent, Telekom Malaysia retreated 1.41 percent and Tenaga Nasional added 0.44 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the day, closing near session highs.

The Dow jumped 285.20 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 34,407.60, while the NASDAQ rallied 196.62 points or 1.45 percent to end at 13,787.92 and the S&P 500 climbed 53.94 points or 1.23 percent to close at 4,450.38.

For the week, the S&P 500 spiked 2.4 percent, the NASDAQ shot up 2.2 percent and the Dow leapt 2.0 percent. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 also posted substantial gains for the first half of 2023.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth in May.

While economists generally still expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by another quarter point this month, the data added to optimism the central bank will not follow through with additional rate hikes.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending recent gains, as a drop in U.S. crude inventories continued to support the commodity. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $0.78 or 1.1 percent at $70.64 a barrel. However, WTI Crude futures shed about 12 percent in H1 and more than 6 percent in Q2.