Bursa Malaysia Stock Information

U.S. stocks fell for a third session on Friday after weakness in technology shares that helped send the Nasdaq down to its biggest weekly point loss since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. For the week, the Nasdaq lost 6.5 percent or 182 points. The Dow dropped 4.1 percent and the S&P 500 declined 3.7 percent. On Friday, Dow Jones industrial average was down 223.55 points, or 1.69 percent, at 13,042.74. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 21.07 points, or 1.43 percent, at 1,453.70. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 68.06 points, or 2.52 percent, at 2,627.94. Qualcomm was among the bellwether tech stocks that led the Nasdaq lower with a decline of 4.2 percent to $38.10, while software maker Microsoft Corp fell 2.9 percent to $33.73.

Bursa Malaysia and other Asian markets will follow the U.S. market trend. Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) is expected to jump at the end of this month due to the listing of biggest plantation company, Synergy Drive Bhd. OSK Investment Bank is estimated the index could boost up to 30 points.

Last night, Wall Street plunged pulling the Dow Jones industrial average down more than 360 points as investors found themselves confronted by two uncomfortable prospects: an end to interest rate cuts and a slowing economy.

Mindful of a warning from the Federal Reserve Wednesday about inflation, the market nervously watched the price of oil, which passed $96 a barrel overnight for the first time before dipping on profit-taking. The Fed, which cut interest rates a quarter point, said in a statement that inflation remained a concern, and oil’s ascent to another record raised the possibility not only that the Fed might stop cutting rates, but that it might even consider raising them if inflation accelerates.

Bursa Malaysia and other regional stock markets will follow the trend today as fear of more bad news coming out due to the rate cuts and increased in oil price. Yesterday, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) closed at 1,409.16 points, dropped 4.49 points. Today, the index will stay in the bearish mode when more profit taking activities from the investors.

This is the Bursa Malaysia Composite Index performance after Hari Raya 2005. Looks like a fall after the holiday.

But in 2006, the story is different. The index steadily climb up without an correction in short term.

If we see the past year performance, there is no special pattern to say that the Bursa Malaysia CI performance affected by this public holiday which is quite long especially for retail investor. In my opinion, the 2006 pattern may happen again this year till year end as “window dressing” take place. However any bad news especially from external may mildly effect the local stock market performance in the short term.