Little Movement Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day losing streak in which it had slipped almost 5 points or 0.3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,620-point plateau and it figures to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing concerns about an artificial intelligence bubble. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourse were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished barely higher on Friday following gains from the plantations and mixed performances from the telecoms, industrials and financials.

For the day, the index perked 0.19 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 1,619.13 after trading between 1,616.50 and 1,621.19. Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail slumped 1.30 percent, while AMMB Holdings gained 0.35 percent, Celcomdigi rose 0.27 percent, CIMB Group added 0.40 percent, Gamuda retreated 1.36 percent, IHH Healthcare improved 0.73 percent, IOI Corporation advanced 0.74 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong soared 1.44 percent, Maybank eased 0.10 percent, MISC stumbled 1.80 percent, MRDIY jumped 1.25 percent, Nestle Malaysia and Petronas Dagangan both lost 0.35 percent, Petronas Chemicals fell 0.28 percent, Petronas Gas perked 0.22 percent, Public Bank collected 0.23 percent, QL Resources surged 2.67 percent, RHB Bank sank 0.73 percent, Sime Darby tumbled 1.93 percent, SD Guthrie rallied 0.93 percent, Sunway shed 0.55 percent, Telekom Malaysia dropped 0.96 percent, Tenaga Nasional was up 0.15 percent and YTL Corporation, YTL Power, Axiata, PPB Group, Press Metal, Maxis and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cloudy as the major averages spent most of Friday under water before a late push salvaged a mixed close.

The Dow added 74.80 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 46,987.10, while the NASDAQ sank 49.46 points or 0.21 percent to close at 23,004.54 and the S&P 500 rose 8.48 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,728.80.

For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ plunged 3.0 percent, while the S&P 500 tumbled 1.7 percent and the Dow slumped 1.2 percent.

The recovery in afternoon trading reflected optimism about an end to the prolonged government shutdown following an offer from top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer - although Republicans turned the offer down later in the day.

Negative sentiment was also generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. has deteriorated much more than anticipated in November; consumers are now expressing worries about potential negative economic consequences of the shutdown as the stalemate exceeds one month.

Crude oil prices saw modest gains on Friday as a weakening dollar was offset by reports of oversupply and low demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.38 or 0.64 percent at $59.81 per barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will see September data for unemployment later today; in August, the jobless rate was 3.0 percent.