The Malaysia stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, collecting almost 30 points or 2 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,555-point plateau and it's got another green light for Monday's trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology and financial shares likely to lead the way higher. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are also expected to tick higher on Monday.
The KLCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the plantation stocks and telecoms, while the industrials were soft and the financial sector was mixed.
For the day, the index added 7.87 points or 0.51 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,556.98 after trading as low as 1,546.41.
Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail spiked 1.69 percent, while AMMB Holdings soared 2.12 percent, Axiata rose 0.38 percent, Celcomdigi jumped 1.31 percent, CIMB Group advanced 1.18 percent, Gamuda and Telekom Malaysia both improved 0.73 percent, IHH Healthcare was up 0.14 percent, IOI Corporation rallied 1.34 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong increased 0.63 percent, Maxis gained 0.57 percent, Maybank lost 0.21 percent, MISC added 0.64 percent, MRDIY slumped 0.62 percent, Nestle Malaysia plunged 2.56 percent, Petronas Chemicals stumbled 1.55 percent, Petronas Dagangan sank 0.26 percent, Petronas Gas surged 2.86 percent, PPB Group tanked 1.94 percent, Press Metal perked 0.37 percent, Public Bank collected 0.93 percent, RHB Bank climbed 1.28 percent, Sime Darby plummeted 3.05 percent, SD Guthrie accelerated 1.68 percent, Tenaga Nasional gathered 0.29 percent, YTL Corporation dropped 0.39 percent, YTL Power shed 0.24 percent and QL Resources and Sunway were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained well in the green throughout the session, finishing near daily highs.
The Dow climbed 206.97 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 44,175.61, while the NASDAQ jumped 207.32 points or 0.98 percent to close at a record 21,450.02 and the S&P 500 gained 49.45 points or 0.78 percent to end at 6,389.45.
For the week, the NASDAQ rallied 3.9 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.4 percent and the Dow shot up 1.4 percent.
Wall Street was led higher by the tech sector as shares of Apple (AAPL) showed a substantial move to the upside last week after announcing plans to spend about $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.
Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index climbing by 1.4 percent. Significant strength also emerged among banking, oil service, brokerage and networking stocks.
Crude oil posted very slight gains on Friday as uncertainty prevails over the U.S.-Russia conflict over the war with Ukraine, combined with the threat of sanctions on Russian oil exports. West Texas Intermediate crude for September was up $0.03 or 0.05 percent to $63.91 per barrel.
Closer to home, Malaysia will see June data for unemployment later today; in May, the jobless rate was 3.0 percent.
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