Malaysia Shares Due For Support On Friday

The Malaysia stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slipping more than 15 points or 0.9 percent in that span. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,590-point plateau although it’s tipped to open in the green on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid earnings news and support from crude oil. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to continue that trend.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the plantation stocks and industrials, while the financials and telecoms were also mostly in the red.

For the day, the index shed 9.50 points or 0.59 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,588.68 after trading as high as 1,599.94.

Among the actives, Axiata jumped 1.75 percent, while Celcomdigi added 0.57 percent, Genting retreated 1.57 percent, Genting Malaysia sank 0.46 percent, IHH Healthcare declined 1.24 percent, IOI Corporation stumbled 2.03 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong dipped 0.18 percent, Maxis slumped 1.10 percent, Maybank collected 0.79 percent, MISC rose 0.13 percent, MRDIY soared 2.69 percent, Nestle Malaysia slid 0.20 percent, Petronas Chemicals surged 5.69 percent, PPB Group tumbled 2.17 percent, Press Metal shed 0.43 percent, Public Bank fell 0.23 percent, QL Resources lost 0.42 percent, RHB Bank eased 0.15 percent, SD Guthrie surrendered 2.04 percent, Sunway rallied 1.43 percent, Telekom Malaysia dropped 0.53 percent, Tenaga Nasional tanked 3.50 percent, YTL Corporation plummeted 6.63 percent, YTL Power plunged 5.40 percent and CIMB Group and Sime Darby were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened slightly lower on Thursday but gradually moved higher and finished in the green.

The Dow rallied 461.88 points or 1.06 percent to finish at 43,870.35, while the NASDAQ rose 6.28 points or 0.03 percent to close at 18,972.42 and the S&P 500 advanced 31.60 points or 0.53 percent to end at 5,948.71.

The sharp increase by the Dow came amid strong gains by IBM Corp. (IBM), Sherwin-Williams (SHW) and Salesforce (CRM).

The NASDAQ showed a lack of direction as traders tracked the performance of AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected third quarter earnings and revenues – but some traders expressed concerns about slowing revenue growth.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in over six months last week. Also, the Conference Board’ leading economic index fell more than expected in October

Oil prices climbed higher Thursday as escalating geopolitical tensions due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine outweighed recent data showing robust supply in the market. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $1.35 or 1.96 percent at $70.10 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will provide October figures for consumer prices later today; in September, inflation was flat on month and up 1.8 percent on year.