Rebound Anticipated For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday halted the three-day winning streak in which it had gained almost a dozen points or 0.7 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just shy of the 1,620-point plateau although it's likely to bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting expected in the technology sectors. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Friday following weakness from the telecoms and mixed performances from the financial shares and plantation stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 4.06 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 1,619.06 after trading between 1,616.22 and 1,622.97.

Among the actives, Axiata sank 0.41 percent, while Celcomdigi gathered 0.28 percent, CIMB Group and PPB Group both advanced 0.56 percent, Dialog Group plunged 2.85 percent, Genting rallied 1.10 percent, Genting Malaysia rose 0.40 percent, IHH Healthcare slid 0.16 percent, Inari tumbled 1.25 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong perked 0.20 percent, Maxis shed 0.28 percent, Maybank fell 0.20 percent, MISC gained 0.47 percent, MRDIY added 0.52 percent, Petronas Chemicals slumped 0.65 percent, Press Metal stumbled 0.83 percent, Public Bank lost 0.24 percent, QL Resources skidded 0.59 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.54 percent, Sime Darby jumped 1.48 percent, SD Guthrie dropped 0.47 percent, Telekom Malaysia declined 0.85 percent, Tenaga Nasional retreated 0.96 percent and IOI Corporation was unchanged.

The lead from all Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher and remained well into the green throughout the session.

The Dow rallied 247.10 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 40,000.90, while the NASDAQ climbed 115.04 points or 0.63 percent to end at 18,398.45 and the S&P 500 gained 30.81 points or 0.55 percent to close at 5,615.35.

For the week, the Dow shot up 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ rose 0.3 percent.

The rebound on Wall Street came as traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the steep drop on Thursday, which partly reflected a rotation out of leading tech stocks like Nvidia (NVDA).

Traders also remained optimistic about the outlook for interest rates even though the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in June.

Oil futures settled lower on Friday, weighed down by data showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in June. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.41 at $82.21 a barrel.