Malaysia Shares May Be Stuck In Neutral Again On Friday

The Malaysia stock market headed south again on Thursday, one session after ending the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 10 points or 0.7 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,460-point plateau and it’s likely to be rangebound again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with tech shares likely to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were mixed but little changed and the Asian markets are likely to open in similar fashion on Friday.

The KLCI finished barely lower on Thursday following losses from the telecoms, gains from the plantations and a mixed picture from the financial shares.

For the day, the index eased 0.55 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 1,460.07 after trading between 1,458.27 and 1,463.30.

Among the actives, Axiata fell 0.40 percent, while Celcomdigi lost 0.45 percent, CIMB Group and Petronas Gas both gained 0.35 percent, Dialog Group and Sime Darby both jumped 1.40 percent, Genting sank 0.69 percent, Genting Malaysia and Telekom Malaysia both added 0.39 percent, IHH Healthcare perked 0.17 percent, IOI Corporation spiked 1.50 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 0.19 percent, Maxis rallied 1.23 percent, Maybank eased 0.11 percent, MISC shed 0.55 percent, MRDIY tumbled 1.32 percent, Petronas Chemicals improved 0.70 percent, PPB Group climbed 1.15 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.18 percent, Sime Darby Plantations advanced 0.93 percent, Tenaga Nasional slumped 0.90 percent, Westports Holdings dropped 0.87 percent and Press Metal and Public Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened mixed and finished little changed in similar fashion.

The Dow rose 57.54 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 34,500.73, while the NASDAQ sank 123.64 points or 0.89 percent to end at 13,748.83 and the S&P 500 fell 14.34 points or 0.32 percent to close at 4,451.14.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates after the Labor Department reported an unexpected drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

The Fed is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting later this month, but CME Group’s FedWatch Tool indicates a 43.4 percent chance of another rate hike in November.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was weighed by weakness from Apple (AAPL) after reports said China plans to expand a ban on the use of iPhones in sensitive departments to government-backed agencies and state companies.

Crude oil prices fell on Thursday, despite a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. Profit taking after recent strong gains was largely responsible as West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.67 or 0.9 percent at $86.87 a barrel.

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