Malaysia Stock Market May Find Traction On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has tracked lower in back-to-back sessions, dropping almost 15 points or 1 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,620-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed as countries weigh the results of the U.S. elections. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Friday as losses from the financials, telecoms and industrials were mitigated by support from the plantations.

For the day, the index eased 2.04 points or 0.13 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,621.24 after peaking at 1,627.62.

Among the actives, Axiata and MISC both retreated 0.88 percent, while Celcomdigi fell 0.30 percent, CIMB Group collected 0.49 percent, Genting tanked 2.03 percent, Genting Malaysia tumbled 0.89 percent, IHH Healthcare shed 0.55 percent, IOI Corporation rallied 1.03 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong was up 0.27 percent, Maxis jumped 1.42 percent, Maybank dropped 0.76 percent, MRDIY climbed 0.93 percent, Nestle Malaysia eased 0.02 percent, Petronas Chemicals and QL Resources both rose 0.41 percent, PPB Group advanced 0.85 percent, Press Metal lost 0.43 percent, Public Bank slid 0.22 percent, RHB Bank sank 0.52 percent, SD Guthrie gained 0.60 percent, Sunway added 0.65 percent, Telekom Malaysia gathered 0.31 percent, Tenaga Nasional perked 0.28 percent, YTL Corporation plunged 2.84 percent, YTL Power plummeted 2.99 percent and Sime Darby, Petronas Dagangan and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and all finished with modest gains to fresh record closing highs.

The Dow jumped 259.65 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 43,988.99, while the NASDAQ rose 17.32 points or 0.09 percent to close at 19,286.78 and the S&P 500 added 22.44 points or 0.38 percent to end at 5,995.54.

For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ soared 5.7 percent, while the S&P 500 spiked 4.7 percent and the Dow rallied 4.6 percent.

Stocks continued to benefit from a positive reaction to former President Donald Trump's decisive victory in the U.S. presidential election, which is expected to be positive for corporations.

Traders also continued to digest the Federal Reserve's widely expected decision on Thursday to lower interest rates by a quarter-point. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed that rates are not on any preset course and the central bank will make future decisions meeting by meeting.

Oil prices fell sharply Friday on concerns about the outlook for demand due to data showing a drop in China's oil imports, and disappointment over the size of China's fresh stimulus measures. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.98 or 2.7 percent at $70.38 a barrel; the contract gained 1 percent in the week.