Rally May Stall For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost 8 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,630-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Friday
The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with continued selling pressure expected among technology and semiconductor stocks. The European and U.S. markets were mostly down and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.
The KLCI finished barely higher on Thursday following gains from the plantations and mixed performances from the financials and telecoms.
For the day, the index perked 0.27 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 1,633.81 after trading between 1,627.93 and 1,634.24.
Among the actives, Axiata climbed 1.57 percent, while Celcomdigi improved 0.81 percent, CIMB Group was up 0.14 percent, Genting and Hong Leong Bank both fell 0.21 percent, Genting Malaysia gained 0.38 percent, IHH Healthcare dipped 0.16 percent, IOI Corporation advanced 1.06 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rallied 1.85 percent, Maxis and Petronas Gas both spiked 1.98 percent, Maybank rose 0.20 percent, MISC and Hong Leong Financial both skidded 1.03 percent, Petronas Chemicals perked 0.17 percent, PPB Group soared 2.46 percent, Press Metal plummeted 8.18 percent, Public Bank jumped 1.92 percent, QL Resources added 0.44 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.35 percent, Sime Darby lost 0.37 percent, Sunway slumped 1.21 percent, Telekom Malaysia eased 0.14 percent, Tenaga Nasional sank 0.41 percent, YTL Power tumbled 3.03 percent and YTL Corporation, SD Guthrie and MRDIY were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is poor as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly headed south and stayed deep in the red for the remainder of the session.
The Dow plunged 533.06 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 40,665.02, while the NASDAQ lost 125.70 points or 0.70 percent to end at 17,871.22 and the S&P 500 sank 43.68 points or 0.78 percent to close at 5,544.59.
The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns about the near-term outlook for the markets following Wednesday's tech sell-off following reports that the Biden's administration is considering tougher trade rules against companies in its chip crackdown on China.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed more than expected last week.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that growth by regional manufacturing was more widespread in July. Also, the Conference Board noted a modest decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in June.
Oil futures eased slightly on Thursday concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China, while the dollar's recovery weighed as well on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.03 at $82.82 a barrel.
Closer to home, Malaysia will release preliminary Q2 data for gross domestic product later today; in the three months prior, GDP was up 4.2 percent on year.
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