Malaysia Shares May See Profit Taking On Friday

The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in six straight sessions, collecting almost 45 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,450-point plateau although it’s overdue for consolidation on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on profit taking and reduced optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are expected to trend in the latter direction.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial hares, plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index perked 1.98 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 1,451.27 after trading between 1,446.92 and 1,456.36.

Among the actives, Axiata rallied 1.54 percent, while Celcomdigi tumbled 1.79 percent, CIMB Group rose 0.37 percent, Dialog Group surged 1.77 percent, Genting gained 0.47 percent, Genting Malaysia soared 1.56 percent, IHH Healthcare increased 0.51 percent, IOI Corporation added 0.72 percent, Maxis advanced 0.75 percent, Maybank dipped 0.1 percent, MISC improved 0.56 percent, MRDIY plunged 2.01 percent, Petronas Chemicals plummeted 2.71 percent, PPB Group shed 0.24 percent, Press Metal sank 0.80 percent, Public Bank collected 0.74 percent, RHB Capital was up 0.18 percent, Sime Darby climbed 0.93 percent, Sime Darby Plantations lost 0.22 percent, Telekom Malaysia spiked 1.19 percent, Westports Holdings jumped 1.16 percent and Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Tenaga Nasional were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but faded late and ended modestly in the red.

The Dow dropped 237.40 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 35,282.72, while the NASDAQ slumped 77.17 points or 0.55 percent to close at 14,050.11 and the S&P 500 fell 29.34 points or 0.64 percent to end at 4,537.41.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from the likes of Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) and fast food giant McDonald’s (MCD).

Stocks also initially benefitted from the release of a batch of upbeat U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department showing an unexpected acceleration in the pace of economic growth in the second quarter.

However, the upbeat data subsequently raised some concerns about the outlook for interest rates following Wednesday’s monetary policy decision by the Federal Reserve.

Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday thanks to prospects of tighter supply in the market due to production cuts by OPEC and allies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September jumped $1.31 or 1.7 percent at $80.09 a barrel.