Malaysia Bourse Tipped To Reclaim Friday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 30 points or 2 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,425-point plateau although it's predicted to rebound on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on good inflation news and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index dipped 2.02 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 1,422.59 after trading between 1,421.36 and 1,429.48.

Among the actives, CIMB Group skidded 0.75 percent, while Dialog Group rose 0.43 percent, Digi.com advanced 0.93 percent, Genting jumped 1.53 percent, Genting Malaysia added 0.76 percent, INARI improved 0.82 percent, IOI Corporation increased 0.79 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong eased 0.10 percent, Maybank slumped 0.70 percent, Maxis rallied 0.73 percent, MISC retreated 0.82 percent, MRDIY climbed 1.31 percent, Petronas Chemicals declined 0.84 percent, PPB Group plummeted 3.27 percent, Press Metal tumbled 1.02 percent, Public Bank collected 0.50 percent, RHB Capital perked 0.18 percent, Sime Darby dropped 0.46 percent, Sime Darby Plantations sank 0.23 percent, Telekom Malaysia tanked 1.61 percent, Tenaga Nasional gained 0.54 percent and Axiata, IHH Healthcare and Petronas Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow soared 415.15 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 33,274.15, while the NASDAQ jumped 208.41 points or 1.73 percent to end at 12,221.91 and the S&P 500 rallied 58.48 points or 1.44 percent to close at 4,109.31.

For the week, the S&P soared 3.5 percent, the NASDAQ accelerated 3.4 percent and the Dow climbed 3.2 percent.

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

With this inflation reading said to be preferred by the Fed, the data led to some optimism the central bank will hold off on raising interest rates at its next meeting in early May.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on falling supplies and optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.30 or 1.8 percent at $75.67 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9.2 percent in the week but dropped 1.8 percent in March and 6 percent in Q1.