Rally May Stall For Malaysia Stock Market

The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, adding more than 20 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,615-point plateau although it may run out of steam n Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later today. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index added 1.55 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 1,615.64 after trading between 1,610.77 and 1,617.78.

Among the actives, Axiata rallied 1.27 percent, while Celcomdigi dipped 0.27 percent, CIMB Group eased 0.12 percent, Genting retreated 1.38 percent, IHH Healthcare gained 0.41 percent, IOI Corporation perked 0.25 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong jumped 1.59 percent, Maybank collected 0.39 percent, MISC advanced 0.68 percent, MRDIY strengthened 1.10 percent, Nestle Malaysia sank 0.57 percent, Petronas Chemicals tumbled 1.83 percent, PPB Group declined 1.36 percent, Press Metal rose 0.40 percent, Public Bank climbed 0.88 percent, QL Resources improved 0.21 percent, RHB Bank was up 0.15 percent, Sime Darby shed 0.43 percent, SD Guthrie dropped 0.79 percent, Sunway lost 0.41 percent, Telekom Malaysia added 0.46 percent, Tenaga Nasional fell 0.29 percent, YTL Corporation slumped 1.35 percent, YTL Power gathered 0.27 percent and Petronas Dagangan, Petronas Gas, Genting Malaysia and Maxis were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat on Thursday and hugged the line for much of the day before slipping under water heading into the close.

The Dow slumped248.33 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 44,765.71, while the NASDAQ shed 34.86 points or 0.18 percent to close at 19,700.26 and the S&P 600 fell 11.38 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,075.11.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

The jobs data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy meeting later this month.

While traders have recently expressed greater confidence the Fed will lower rates by another 25 basis points at the December meeting, there remains uncertainty about the likelihood of continued rate cuts at future meetings.

Crude oil prices dipped on Thursday, weighed by weak demand from China and rising production in the United States – although the downside was limited by OPEC’s decision to delay a production increase. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January fell $0.24 or 0.4 percent at $68.30 a barrel.