The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering almost 10 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,615-point plateau although it\'s looking at a soft start on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative as Friday\'s U.S. jobs report fueled uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets saw modest losses and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The KLCI finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the plantations and mixed performances from the financial shares and telecoms.
For the day, the index perked 3.13 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 1,617.86 after trading between 1,614.93 and 1,622.49.
Among the actives, Axiata spiked 1.82 percent, while Celcomdigi tumbled 1.55 percent, CIMB Group picked up 0.14 percent, Genting fell 0.21 percent, Genting Malaysia gathered 0.38 percent, IOI Corporation gained 0.52 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong increased 0.57 percent, Maxis perked 0.27 percent, Maybank collected 0.20 percent, MISC climbed 0.94 percent, Petronas Chemicals retreated 1.48 percent, PPB Group rallied 1.09 percent, Press Metal jumped 1.55 percent, Public Bank sank 0.48 percent, QL Resources and Telekom Malaysia both strengthened 0.16 percent, RHB Capital added 0.55 percent, Sime Darby improved 0.73 percent, SD Guthrie was up 0.23 percent, Tenaga Nasional rose 0.44 percent, YTL Corporation advanced 0.83 percent, YTL Power slid 0.20 percent and IHH Healthcare, MRDIY and Petronas Gas were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Friday, bounced higher at midday but faded going into the close to end with mild losses.
The Dow shed 87.21 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 38,798.99, while the NASDAQ sank 39.97 points or 0.23 percent to close at 17,133.12 and the S&P 500 fell 5.97 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,346.99.
For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.4 percent, the S&P jumped 1.3 percent and the Dow rose 0.3 percent.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders reacted to the Labor Department\'s closely watched monthly jobs report, which showed employment jumped more than expected in May but also saw an unexpected uptick in the unemployment rate.
Oil futures settled flat on Friday on concerns the Federal Reserve may hold interest rates higher for longer following the stronger than expected U.S. non-farm payroll report for May. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended at $75.53 a barrel, down $0.02. WTI crude futures shed about 2 percent in the week.