Renewed Selling Pressure Anticipated For Malaysia Shares

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 65 points or 4.6 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,410-point plateau although it's predicted to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on continued concerns over the health of financial institutions. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index climbed 20.13 points or 1.45 percent to finish at 1,411.73 after trading between 1,397.23 and 1,416.92.

Among the actives, Axiata soared 4.45 percent, while CIMB Group increased 1.36 percent, Dialog Group rose 0.43 percent, Genting Malaysia strengthened 2.31 percent, IHH Healthcare gathered 0.34 percent, IOI Corporation surged 4.55 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong spiked 4.36 percent, Maybank advanced 1.45 percent, Maxis jumped 2.93 percent, MISC lost 0.70 percent, Petronas Chemicals rallied 3.43 percent, PPB Group gained 0.73 percent, Press Metal perked 0.42 percent, Public Bank collected 1.02 percent, RHB Capital was up 0.18 percent, Sime Darby climbed 1.89 percent, Sime Darby Plantations added 1.18 percent, Telekom Malaysia accelerated 3.33 percent, Tenaga Nasional improved 2.14 percent and Genting, MRDIY, INARI, Digi.com and Nestle Malaysia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and pretty much stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 384.62 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 31,861.98, while the NASDAQ slumped 86.79 points or 0.74 percent to close at 11,630.51 and the S&P 500 dropped 43.64 points or 1.10 percent to end at 3,916.64. For the week, the NASDAQ soared 4.4 percent, the S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent and the Dow eased 0.2 percent.

The pullback on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on Thursday's rally amid lingering concerns about turmoil in the financial sector.

Traders also looked ahead to Wednesday's Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. CME Group's FedWatch tool currently indicates a 43.2 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged and a 56.8 percent chance of a 25 basis point rate hike.

In economic news, the Fed said U.S. industrial production was unexpectedly unchanged in February. Also, the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell for the first time in four months in March.

Crude oil prices sank Friday as rising concerns about the health of the banking sector continued to fuel worries about economic growth and the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April dropped $1.61 or 2.4 percent at $66.74 a barrel. WTI crude futures tumbled 13 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Malaysia will provide February numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to rise 6.8 percent on year, up from 2.3 percent in January. Exports are called higher by an annual 4.5 percent, accelerating from 1.5 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at MYR18.30 billion, up from MYR18.20 billion.