Malaysia Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

The Malaysia stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, dropping almost 20 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,640-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly flat ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the financials and mixed performances from the industrials and telecoms.

For the day, the index perked 2.24 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 1,641.55 after trading between 1,630.45 and 1,643.82.

Among the actives, Axiata rose 0.41 percent, while Celcomdigi skidded 0.80 percent, CIMB Group perked 0.13 percent, Genting gained 0.48 percent, Maxis lost 0.26 percent, Maybank climbed 0.76 percent, MISC dropped 0.63 percent, MRDIY added 0.49 percent, Petronas Chemicals jumped 1.23 percent, Petronas Dagangan stumbled 1.43 percent, Petronas Gas sank 0.56 percent, PPB Group retreated 1.08 percent, Press Metal shed 0.40 percent, Public Bank rallied 0.88 percent, QL Resources gathered 0.21 percent, RHB Bank collected 0.65 percent, Sime Darby declined 0.82 percent, Sunway surged 1.94 percent, Tenaga Nasional fell 0.14 percent, YTL Corporation slumped 0.81 percent, YTL Power tumbled 1.65 percent and Genting Malaysia, IHH Healthcare, IOI Corporation, Kuala Lumpur Kepong, Telekom Malaysia, SD Guthrie and Hong Leong Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and largely remained in the red throughout the day, closing with modest losses.

The Dow dropped 184.93 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 42,011.59, while the NASDAQ eased 6.65 points or 0.04 percent to close at 17,918.47 and the S&P 500 fell 9.60 points or 0.17 percent to end at 5,699.94.

The lack of direction on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Labor Department’s highly anticipated monthly jobs report on Friday.

The data could impact the outlook for the U.S. economy as well as expectations regarding how aggressively the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates.

Traders also kept an eye on developments in the Middle East, where an escalating conflict has contributed to a sharp increase by the price of crude oil.

Oil prices moved up sharply on Thursday thanks to tensions in the Middle East, with the war between Israel and Iran raising concerns about supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up $3.61 or 5.2 percent at $73.71 a barrel.