Ahead of the long holiday weekend for Eid-ul-Fitr, the Malaysia stock market had ended the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 30 points or 2 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,720-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start as it catches up on missed sentiment.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat as tensions in the Middle East take a slight breather. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead. The KLCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, gains from the plantations and mixed performances from the industrials and telecoms. For the day, the index sank 9.10 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 1,720.71 after trading between 1,719.93 and 1,737.12. Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail fell 0.57 percent, while AMMB Holdings lost 0.59 percent, Axiata added 0.43 percent, Celcomdigi stumbled 1.92 percent, CIMB Group sank 1.01 percent, Gamuda retreated 1.43 percent, IHH Healthcare tanked 3.83 percent, IOI Corporation advanced 0.74 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rallied 1.32 percent, Maxis skidded 1.08 percent, Maybank slumped 1.19 percent, MISC perked 0.12 percent, MRDIY vaulted 1.22 percent, Nestle Malaysia slipped 0.50 percent, Petronas Chemicals skyrocketed 11.84 percent, Petronas Dagangan and QL Resources both eased 0.27 percent, Petronas Gas plunged 6.25 percent, PPB Group surged 5.07 percent, Press Metal spiked 1.44 percent, Public Bank declined 1.22 percent, RHB Bank collected 0.35 percent, Sime Darby soared 1.69 percent, SD Guthrie jumped 1.37 percent, Sunway tumbled 1.64 percent, Telekom Malaysia dropped 1.07 percent, Tenaga Nasional gained 0.42 percent, YTL Corporation plummeted 6.78 percent and YTL Power shed 0.68 percent.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.