Continued Consolidation Tipped For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for the birth of the prophet Muhammad, the Malaysia stock market has ended the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered just 3 points or 0.2 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,575-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns about the health of the American economy. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are also expected to open to the downside.

The KLCI finished barely lower on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index eased 0.37 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 1,578.15 after trading between 1,575.99 and 1,581.89. Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail stumbled 1.57 percent, while AMMB Holdings added 0.55 percent, Axiata tanked 1.62 percent, Celcomdigi jumped 1.36 percent, CIMB Group climbed 0.97 percent, Gamuda slumped 0.89 percent, IOI Corporation shed 0.52 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong lost 0.40 percent, Maxis plunged 1.66 percent, Maybank was up 0.10 percent, MISC perked 0.13 percent, MRDIY surged 2.60 percent, Nestle Malaysia fell 0.38 percent, Petronas Chemicals plummeted 2.33 percent, Petronas Dagangan declined 0.91 percent, PPB Group rallied 2.13 percent, Press Metal increased 0.18 percent, Public Bank collected 0.23 percent, QL Resources advanced 0.96 percent, RHB Bank tumbled 1.52 percent, Sime Darby retreated 1.46 percent, SD Guthrie improved 0.60 percent, Sunway rose 0.19 percent, Telekom Malaysia gained 0.29 percent, Tenaga Nasional slipped 0.31 percent, YTL Corporation dropped 0.79 percent, YTL Power sank 0.74 percent and IHH Healthcare, Petronas Gas and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged.

The lead from the Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but quickly headed south and spent the balance of the day in the red.

The Dow stumbled 220.44 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 45,400.86, while the NASDAQ fell 7.31 points or 0.03 percent to close at 21,700.39 and the S&P 500 sank 20.58 points or 0.32 percent to end at 6,481.50. For the week, the NASDAQ jumped 1.1 percent, the S&P rose 0.3 percent and the Dow dipped 0.3 percent.

The early downturn on Wall Street came as traders digested a closely watched Labor Department report showing much weaker than expected U.S. job growth in the month of August.

Traders initially reacted positively to the report amid optimism the data will convince the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates later this month. But buying interest quickly waned amid concerns about the outlook for the economy.

Crude oil moved sharply lower on Friday as oversupply concerns grew stronger ahead of OPEC's Sunday meeting, where the group did as expected and boosted output. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery dropped $1.64 or 2.58 percent to $61.84 per barrel.