Renewed Selling Pressure Tipped For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day slide in which it had slumped almost 20 points or 1.2 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,445-point plateau although it may head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky after inconsistent U.S. employment data. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the financial shares were offset by weakness from the plantations and telecoms.

For the day, the index rose 3.36 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 1,445.21 after trading between 1,442.23 and 1,447.13.

Among the actives, Celcomdigi tumbled 1.78 percent, while CIMB Group and Public Bank both advanced 0.73 percent, Dialog Group slumped 1.35 percent, Genting and Press Metal both rallied 1.43 percent, Genting Malaysia jumped 1.98 percent, IHH Healthcare gathered 0.33 percent, IOI Corporation dropped 0.73 percent, Maxis gained 0.51 percent, Maybank collected 0.11 percent, MISC and Tenaga Nasional both rose 0.42 percent, MRDIY sank 0.71 percent, PPB Group shed 0.60 percent, RHB Capital added 0.54 percent, Sime Darby Plantations lost 0.45 percent, Westports Holdings climbed 0.86 percent and Petronas Chemicals, Petronas Dagangan, QL Resources, Sime Darby, Telekom Malaysia, Axiata and Kuala Lumpur Kepong were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Friday and spent most of the day in the green before late selling pressure saw them finish slightly under water.

The Dow dropped 150.28 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 35,0.65.62, while the NASDAQ lost 50.46 points or 0.36 percent to close at 13,909.24 and the S&P 500 sank 23.86 points or 0.53 percent to end at 4,478.03.

For the week, the Dow slumped 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 tumbled 2.3 percent and the NASDAQ plunged 2.9 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing that employment in the U.S. increased less than expected in July, although the jobless rate surprisingly ticked lower.

Following the mixed report, most economists still expect another pause in interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve next month, although the data has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for rates beyond that.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending recent gains amid tightening supply issues after Saudi Arabia and Russia pledged to cut output through next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.27 at $82.82 a barrel.