(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 20 points or 1.2 percent The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,520-point plateau and it figures to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with support from technology stocks and crude oil companies expected to lead the way higher. The European markets were own and the U.S. markets were mixed and Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The KLCI finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the financials and mixed performances from the plantations and glove makers.
For the day, the index eased 2.97 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 1,522.76 after trading between 1,518.82 and 1,526.80.
Among the actives, Axiata slumped 0.52 percent, while CIMB Group eased 0.19 percent, Dialog Group surged 2.66 percent, Genting dropped 0.68 percent, Genting Malaysia and RHB Capital both slid 0.36 percent, Hartalega Holdings shed 0.53 percent, IHH Healthcare declined 0.77 percent, INARI retreated 0.92 percent, IOI Corporation plummeted 3.86 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong climbed 1.12 percent, Maybank skidded 0.72 percent, Maxis sank 0.69 percent, MISC fell 0.43 percent, MRDIY plunged 2.23 percent, Petronas Chemicals advanced 0.67 percent, PPB Group rose 0.12 percent, Press Metal jumped 1.80 percent, Sime Darby lost 0.45 percent, Sime Darby Plantations tumbled 1.12 percent, Telekom Malaysia was down 0.20 percent, Tenaga Nasional tanked 1.19 percent, Top Glove spiked 1.88 percent and Digi.com, Public Bank and Petronas Gas were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed to higher as the major averages were directionless on Monday, finally finishing on opposite sides of the unchanged line.
The Dow dipped 21.42 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 35,089.74, while the NASDAQ surged 219.19 points or 1.58 percent to end at 14,098.01 and the S&P 500 gained 23.09 points or 0.52 percent to close at 4,500.53. For the week, the NASDAQ gained 2.5 percent, the S&P added 1.5 percent and the Dow was up 1.1 percent.
Traders reacted to much better than expected U.S. employment data from the Labor Department, which is good for economic recovery but spurred concerns for the outlook on interest rates.
Expectations for more aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve lifted bond yields. The yield on long term U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose about the 1.9 percent mark for the first time in more than two years.
In earnings news, Amazon, Snap, Pinterest, Salesforce.com, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Walt Disney, Chevron and American Express all had solid numbers.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday and lifted the most active crude futures contracts to their highest close in over seven years. Rising concerns over supply disruptions fueled the rally, as did mounting tensions between Russia and Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $2.04 or 2.3 percent at $92.31 a barrel, the highest settlement since September 29, 2014. WTI crude oil futures gained more than 6 percent in the week.
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