Malaysia Stock Market Likely To Remain Rangebound

The Malaysia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 15 points or 1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,500-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with profit taking expected particularly among the oil and technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets finished lower and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the financial shares, plantations and telecoms were capped by weakness from the glove makers.

For the day, the index added 7.76 points or 0.52 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,501.79 after moving as low as 1,491.82. Volume was 2.733 billion shares worth 1.588 billion ringgit. There were 458 gainers and 400 decliners.

Among the actives, Axiata surged 3.78 percent, while CIMB Group sank 0.76 percent, Dialog Group and PPB Group both perked 0.82 percent, Digi.com spiked 1.48 percent, Genting jumped 1.12 percent, Genting Malaysia accelerated 1.44 percent, Hartalega Holdings retreated 1.25 percent, IHH Healthcare increased 0.31 percent, IOI Corporation gained 0.54 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rallied 0.87 percent, Maybank was up 0.12 percent, Maxis gathered 0.91 percent, MISC advanced 0.77 percent, Petronas Chemicals improved 0.36 percent, Petronas Gas dipped 0.12 percent, Press Metal strengthened 1.28 percent, Public Bank collected 0.25 percent, RHB Capital added 0.74 percent, Sime Darby rose 0.46 percent, Sime Darby Plantations soared 2.39 percent, Telekom Malaysia tumbled 1.67 percent, Tenaga Nasional climbed 1.00 percent, Top Glove skidded 1.23 percent and MRDIY, Hong Leong Bank, Hong Leong Financial, Hap Seng Consolidated and Nestle were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday. The Dow moved into the green for a time before ending flat, while the NASDAQ and S&P 500 finished solidly in the red.

The Dow eased 0.06 points to finish at 25,754.69, while the NASDAQ tumbled 269.62 points or 1.71 percent to close at 15,517.37 and the S&P 500 dropped 33.76 points or 0.72 percent to end at 4,667.45.

The pullback on Wall Street came as traders cashed in on the recent strength in the markets, which saw stocks recover strongly from the post-Thanksgiving sell-off triggered by the detection of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

With concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant easing, traders are now looking ahead to next week’s Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement. Reports suggest the Fed could decide to double the pace of tapering its asset purchase program to $30 billion per month.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time jobless claims pulled back by much more than expected last week.

Crude oil settled lower Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand following several countries imposing fresh restrictions on movements to curb the spread of Omicron. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $1.42 or 2 percent at $70.94 a barrel.