Renewed Selling Pressure Called For Malaysia Bourse

The Malaysia stock market rebounded on Friday, one session after it had ended the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 25 points or 1.6 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,505-point plateau although it may head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is directionless as investors hold their breath to see if another wave of Covid-19 is imminent. The European markets were up on Friday and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian stocks are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the plantations were offset by weakness from the financial shares.

For the day, the index rose 2.35 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 1,507.26 after trading between 1,496.79 and 1,512.94. Volume was 6.328 billion shares worth 4.923 billion ringgit. There were 610 gainers and 400 decliners.

Among the actives, Petronas Dagangan surged 5.22 percent, while Hartalega Holdings soared 5.04 percent, Top Glove spiked 4.76 percent, Hap Seng accelerated 4.65 percent, Genting plummeted 2.69 percent, Malaysia Airports Holdings plunged 2.58 percent, Sime Darby tanked 2.28 percent, Maxis jumped 2.25 percent, Genting Malaysia climbed 2.24 percent, Sime Darby Plantations gathered 2.02 percent, Digi.com tumbled 1.83 percent, Petronas Chemicals skidded 1.72 percent, Public Bank dropped 1.31 percent, RHB Capital sank 1.23 percent, MISC shed 1.03 percent, IOI Corporation advanced 0.92 percent, Dialog Group lost 0.84 percent, Maybank fell 0.65 percent, Press Metal slid 0.64 percent, PPB Group gained 0.58 percent, CIMB Group dipped 0.54 percent, Axiata was down 0.29 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong was up 0.09 percent and IHH Healthcare, Tenaga Nasional and AMMB Holdings were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened higher on Friday but faded as the session progressed, sending the major averages mostly into the red at the close.

The Dow shed 208.64 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 25,871.46, while the NASDAQ rose 3.07 points or 0.03 percent to 9,946.12 and the S&P 500 fell 17.60 points or 0.56 percent to 3,097.74. For the week, the Dow added 1 percent, the NASDAQ jumped 3.7 percent and the S&P climbed 1.9 percent.

The higher open on Wall Street came on continued optimism about economic recovery in the wake of recent strong data on employment and retail sales.

However, reports showing a surge in coronavirus infections in several states in America and the World Health Organization's warning that the pandemic is "accelerating and the world is in a new and dangerous phase" unsettled the market.

The Trump administration has declared there will not be another shutdown, but Apple Inc. (AAPL) announced that it is temporarily shuttering stores again in U.S. states where coronavirus cases have been spiking in recent weeks. Texas and Arizona reported record spikes in new cases on Friday.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid continued optimism that OPEC and its allies will strictly comply with production cuts to balance demand-supply position and help stabilize prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July added $0.91 or 2.3 percent at $39.75 a barrel.