Malaysia Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has climbed higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost 10 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,670-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking likely on the docket after strong gains late last week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are tipped to split the difference.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financials, industrials, telecoms and plantations.

For the day, the index perked 3.17 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 1,668.82 after trading between 1,668.48 and 1,674.04.

Among the actives, Axiata slumped 1.19 percent, while Celcomdigi tanked 3.42 percent, CIMB Group jumped 1.81 percent, Genting sank 0.48 percent, IHH Healthcare dropped 0.70 percent, IOI Corporation fell 0.26 percent, Maxis retreated 2.00 percent, Maybank lost 0.38 percent, MISC rallied 0.98 percent, Petronas Chemicals tumbled 3.01 percent, PPB Group added 0.42 percent, Press Metal perked 0.20 percent, Public Bank collected 0.21 percent, QL Resources shed 0.42 percent, RHB Bank advanced 0.48 percent, Sime Darby skidded 0.84 percent, SD Guthrie spiked 2.16 percent, Sunway gained 0.23 percent, Telekom Malaysia climbed 0.60 percent, YTL Corporation surged 4.62 percent, YTL Power soared 4.08 percent and Genting Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Kepong, Tenaga Nasional and MRDIY were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday and largely stayed that way, although the Dow broke barely into the green by the session's end.

The Dow added 38.16 points or 0.09 percent to finish at a record 42,063.36, while the NASDAQ slumped 65.68 points or 0.36 percent to close at 17,948.32 and the S7P 500 fell 11.09 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,702.55.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.6 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.5 percent and the S&P rallied 1.4 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected profit taking, with traders cashing in on Thursday's significant rally amid a positive reaction to the Federal Reserve's decision to slash interest rates by half of a percentage point.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they question what the next catalyst for the markets will be now that the Fed's first rate cut is in the rearview mirror.

Oil futures settled slightly lower on Friday due largely to profit taking by traders after solid gains last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October eased $0.03 at $71.92 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will provide August data for consumer prices later today; in July, overall inflation was up 0.1 percent on month and 2.0 percent on year.