Malaysia Shares Called Lower On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 15 points or 0.8 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed just above the 1,830-point plateau, and now the market draws another soft start on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, thanks to disappointing Chinese trade data over the weekend - which showed that the world's second largest economy posted a trade deficit in February. The European markets were sharply lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed but little changed - and the Asian markets are also expected to track lower.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Friday as weakness from the industrial sector was mitigated by support from the financial shares and plantation stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 6.43 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 1,832.26 after trading between 1,831.37 and 1,836.46. Volume was 1.57 billion shares worth 1.81 billion ringgit. There were 450 gainers and 357 decliners, with 325 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, CIMB Group and Axiata finished lower, while Iris and Tiger Synergy were unchanged and Sime Darby and TNB moved higher.

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as stocks turned in a lackluster performance on Friday after failing to sustain an initial upward move. The choppy trading came despite a relatively upbeat monthly employment report as investors sense a lack of further upside.

The NASDAQ dipped 15.90 points or 0.4 percent to 4,336.22, while the Dow rose 30.83 points or 0.2 percent to 16,452.72 and the S&P 500 crept up 1.01 points or 0.1 percent to 1,878.04. For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 1 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ advanced 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

The Labor Department said that non-farm payroll employment rose by 175,000 jobs in February compared to estimates for an increase of 150,000 jobs. The report also showed a net upward revision to the two previous months of 25,000 jobs, with employment in December and January rising by 84,000 jobs and 129,000 jobs, respectively.

Despite the continued job growth, the unemployment rate edged up to 6.7 percent in February after dipping to a five-year low of 6.6 percent in January. The unemployment rate had been expected to come in unchanged.

The jobs report overshadowed a separate report from the Commerce Department showing that the U.S. trade deficit edged slightly wider in January.

Closer to home, Malaysia's merchandise exports increased 12.2 percent on year to MYR63.97 billion in January, the Department of Statistics said on Friday - beating forecasts for 7.9 percent. Imports gained 7.2 percent on year to MYR57.62 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of MYR6.36 billion, which was lower than forecasts for MYR9.05 billion.