Rebound Anticipated For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for the Islamic New Year, the Malaysia stock market had snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 15 points or 1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,610-point plateau although it may move back to the upside again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher on uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the financials and telecoms were mitigated by support from the plantation stocks.

For the day, the index fell 5.73 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 1,611.02 after trading between 1,608.41 and 1,616.26.

Among the actives, Axiata tanked 1.56 percent, while Celcomdigi plummeted 1.93 percent, CIMB Group retreated 0.71 percent, Genting stumbled 0.64 percent, Genting Malaysia sank 0.40 percent, IHH Healthcare slid 0.16 percent, IOI Corporation gained 0.54 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong added 0.70 percent, Maxis shed 0.29 percent, Maybank slumped 0.59 percent, MISC declined 0.68 percent, Petronas Chemicals perked 0.16 percent, PPB Group advanced 0.85 percent, Press Metal rose 0.51 percent, Public Bank and Sunway both lost 0.25 percent, RHB Capital fell 0.18 percent, Sime Darby jumped 1.15 percent, SD Guthrie skidded 0.47 percent, Telekom Malaysia dropped 0.44 percent, Tenaga Nasional eased 0.14 percent, YTL Corporation tumbled 1.05 percent, YTL Power plunged 1.69 percent and MRDIY and QL Resources were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Monday but quickly faded and spent the rest of the day bouncing back and forth across the line before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 31.08 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 39,344.79, while the NASDAQ added 50.98 points or 0.28 percent to close at a record 18,403.74 and the S&P rose 5.66 points or 0.10 percent to end at 5,572.85 - also a record.

The inconsistency on Wall Street reflected uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of several key economic events this week, including reports on consumer and producer prices.

Traders are also likely to pay close attention to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony this week, looking for clues about the interest rate outlook.

Oil prices fell on Monday after Hurricane Beryl forced the shutdown of some oil export facilities near Houston. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.83 or 1 percent at $82.33 a barrel.