Little Movement Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday ended the two-day slide in which it had slipped not even 2 points or 0.2 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,435-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower as inflation concerns war with support from oil stocks. 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 barely higher on Friday following gains from the telecoms, weakness from the plantations and a mixed picture from the financials.

For the day, the index perked 0.91 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 1,435.13 after trading between 1,431.81 and 1,438.28.

Among the actives, Axiata was up 0.33 percent, while CIMB Group collected 0.58 percent, Genting jumped 1.51 percent, Genting Malaysia rose 0.38 percent, IHH Healthcare sank 0.68 percent, INARI soared 2.14 percent, IOI Corporation fell 0.26 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Petronas Dagangan both eased 0.09 percent, Maxis added 0.48 percent, MISC climbed 1.12 percent, MRDIY lost 0.61 percent, Press Metal advanced 0.78 percent, RHB Capital dipped 0.18 percent, Sime Darby gained 0.46 percent, Sime Darby Plantations slumped 1.16 percent, Telekom Malaysia rallied 1.00 percent, Tenaga Nasional improved 0.66 percent and Petronas Chemicals, PPB Group, Dialog Group, Digi.com, Maybank, Public Bank and QL Resources were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off early support on Friday, quickly heading south and staying in the red throughout the day.

The Dow tumbled 143.23 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 33,886.47, while the NASDAQ sank 42.83 points or 0.35 percent to close at 12,123.47 and the S&P 500 fell 8.58 points or 0.21 percent to end at 4,137.64. For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.8 percent and the NASAQ rose 0.3 percent.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street coincided with the release of a report from the University of Michigan showing a jump in inflation expectations in the month of April.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales fell more than expected in March, while the Federal Reserve said U.S. industrial production increased more than expected in March, although the increase was largely due to a spike in utilities output.

Crude oil futures settled modestly higher Friday, lifted by the International Energy Agency's forecast that global crude demand will grow to a record 101.9 million barrels per day this year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May rose $0.36 or 0.4 percent at $82.52 a barrel.