Renewed Selling Pressure Predicted For Malaysia Stock Market

The Malaysia stock market rebounded on Friday, one session after snapping the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 35 points or 2.3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index remains just above the 1,515-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast continues to be soft, with continued profit taking expected following recent strength in the markets - particularly from the technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were down on Friday and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished barely higher as gains from the telecoms and rubber glove makers were capped by weakness from the plantations and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index rose 0.46 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 1,515.86 after trading between 1,498.72 and 1,519.28. Volume was 7.014 billion shares worth 4.071 billion ringgit. There were 657 decliners and 388 gainers.

Among the actives, Malaysia Airports Holdings plummeted 4.02 percent, while IOI Corporation plunged 1.35 percent, Genting tanked 1.11 percent, Tenaga Nasional soared 1.09 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong tumbled 1.05 percent, Hartalega Holdings spiked 1.01 percent, Genting Malaysia accelerated 0.88 percent, PPB Group skidded 0.85 percent, Sime Darby jumped 0.85 percent, Dialog Group climbed 0.82 percent, Sime Darby Plantations retreated 0.79 percent, Press Metal perked 0.78 percent, Digi.com gathered 0.74 percent, Public Bank declined 0.62 percent, Petronas Gas surrendered 0.46 percent, RHB Capital sank 0.43 percent, IHH Healthcare dropped 0.38 percent, Axiata and AMMB Holdings both shed 0.33 percent, CIMB Group collected 0.31 percent, MISC fell 0.26 percent, Maxis rose 0.20 percent, Top Glove was up 0.12 percent and Petronas Chemicals, Hong Leong Financial, Petronas Dagangan and Maybank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks suffered an early sharp move to the downside on Friday. The markets pulled well away from session lows but still finished in the red.

The Dow shed 159.39 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 28,133.31, while the NASDAQ tumbled 144.96 points or 1.27 percent to end at 11,313.13 and the S&P 500 sank 28.10 points or 0.81 percent to close at 3,426.96. For the week, the Dow shed 1.8 percent, the NASDAQ dropped 3.3 percent and the S&P fell 2.3 percent.

Technology stocks contributed to the early sell-off on Wall Street once again, as traders continued to cash in on the recent strength in the sector. At its lows of the session, the tech-heavy NASDAQ was down nearly 10 percent from the record intraday high set on Wednesday.

In economic news, the Labor Department reported another substantial increase in U.S. employment in August, although the pace of job growth continued to slow from the record spike in June.

Crude oil prices drifted lower Friday, extending recent losses amid continued concerns about the outlook for gasoline demand and easing of production cuts by leading oil producers. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended down $1.60 or 4 percent at $39.77 a barrel and finished lower by 7 percent for the week.