(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market headed south again on Friday, one day after snapping the three-day slide in which it had slumped more than 20 points or 1.1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,700-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with sliding oil prices offset by weakness among the tech shares. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The KLCI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses among the financial shares, telecoms and industrials were mitigated by support from the plantation stocks.
For the day, the index sank 13.57 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 1,701.02 after trading between 1,697.76 and 1,710.80.
The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed and bounced up and down all day before ending on opposite sides of the line.
The Dow jumped 235.60 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 51,947.25, while the NASDAQ sank 161.87 points or 0.64 percent to end at 24,975.82 and the S&P 500 perked 3.68 points or 0.05 percent to close at 7,411.98.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ tumbled 2.1 percent for the week, closing below 25,000 for the first time since late April. The S&P 500 and Dow posted more modest weekly losses, falling by 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
The strength that emerged on Wall Street in morning trading came amid a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil as investors analyzed the impact of an output increase by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $2.99 or 3.24 percent at $89.20 per barrel.
The subsequent pullback by stocks in afternoon trading reflected renewed tariff concerns after President Donald Trump threatened to impose substantial tariffs on the European Union over the substantial fines the bloc has levied against major U.S. tech companies.
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