FX.co ★ Continued Strength Expected For Malaysia Shares

The Malaysia stock market experienced another surge last Friday, putting a halt to a six-day winning round which resulted in nearly a 40-point or 2.5% increase. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index is currently just over the 1,575-point mark and is predicted to have another solid opening this Monday.

A positive global forecast for Asian markets is expected due to encouraging inflation data and support from oil and tech companies. The European and U.S. markets reported strong performance and Asian markets are expected to mirror this trend.

The KLCI saw a modest increase this Friday due to profits from plantation and telecom sectors. However, financial shares experienced a slight decrease. The index ended the day gaining 5.91 points or 0.38% and closed at 1,575.16 with the trade range between 1,566.34 and 1,575.57.

Among the performers, Axiata increased by 1.10%, while Celcomdigi surged 1.95%. CIMB Group decreased by 1.05%, Genting slipped by 0.22%. Other movements included Genting Malaysia dropping by 0.76%, IHH Healthcare rising by 0.32% and IOI Corporation improving by 0.50%.

On Wall Street, the average major gains remained consistent throughout the trading day on Friday. The Dow grew by 153.86 points or 0.40%, closing at 38,239.66, while NASDAQ surged by 316.10 points or 2.02% to end at 15,927.90. Furthermore, the S&P 500 rallied by 51.54 points or 1.02%, closing at 5.099.96.

Over the week, NASDAQ spiked 4.2%, the S&P 500 jumped 2.7% and the Dow added 0.7%. Wall Street's rally was fuelled by favourable reactions to recent earnings reports from tech giants like Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT) and Snap (SNAP).

Additionally, traders reacted positively to the inflation readings released by the Commerce Department, which showed that U.S. consumer prices in March rose according to the estimates.

Oil prices edged higher on Friday due to growing optimism about oil demand and supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.28 or 0.34% at $83.85 a barrel. Over the week, WTI crude futures gained 0.85%.