Win Streak May End For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has ticked higher in three consecutive trading days, adding almost a dozen points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just shy of the 1,625-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests profit taking, particularly among the technology sectors. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished slightly higher again on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index rose 4.74 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 1,623.12 after trading between 1,620.02 and 1,628.35.

Among the actives, Axiata skidded 1.20 percent, while Genting fell 0.22 percent, Genting Malaysia strengthened 1.20 percent, IHH Healthcare increased 0.63 percent, IOI Corporation gained 0.27 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong slumped 1.30 percent, Maxis rallied 2.02 percent, Maybank collected 0.40 percent, MISC dropped 0.81 percent, Petronas Chemicals fell 0.32 percent, PPB Group sank 0.56 percent, Press Metal retreated 1.32 percent, Public Bank lost 0.48 percent, QL Resources soared 3.22 percent, RHB Capital improved 0.72 percent, Sime Darby spiked 2.65 percent, SD Guthrie added 0.48 percent, Sunway surged 4.33 percent, Telekom Malaysia climbed 1.15 percent, Tenaga Nasional jumped 1.39 percent, YTL Corporation advanced 1.06 percent, YTL Power tumbled 1.34 percent and Celcomdigi, CIMB Group and MRDIY were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is largely negative as the major averages opened lower on Thursday; the Dow inched barely into the green, while the S&P and NASDAQ retreated from record highs.

The Dow rose 32.39 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 39,753.75, while the NASDAQ plummeted 364.04 points or 1.95 percent to close at 18,283.41 and the S&P 500 sank 49.37 points or 0.88 percent to end at 5,584.54.

Optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to early strength on Wall Street, although it quickly waned as traders seem to have already priced in a rate cut in September.

The subsequent sell-off came as traders cashed in on the recent strength in the markets, with some of the biggest tech winners of the year like AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) leading the pullback.

Nonetheless, the Federal Reserve is still seen as likely to lower rates in September after a report from the Labor Department showing showed prices in the U.S. unexpectedly edged slightly lower in June.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, lifted by hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve after the encouraging inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.52 at $82.62 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will provide May numbers for industrial production later today, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 3.5 percent - slowing from 6.1 percent in April.