(fxcue news) - The Malaysia stock market headed south again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had shed more than a dozen points or 0.7 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,635-point plateau, although it figures to bounce higher again on Monday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion. The KLCI finished modestly lower on Friday following weakness from the utilities and mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms. For the day, the index fell 5.92 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 1,635.74 after trading between 1,633.31 and 1,644.44. Among the actives, Axiata advanced 0.83 percent, while Celcomdigi gained 0.28 percent, Genting lost 0.46 percent, IHH Healthcare rose 0.16 percent, IOI Corporation sank 0.79 percent, Maxis and PPB Group both skidded 1.10 percent, Petronas Chemicals stumbled 1.55 percent, Press Metal rallied 0.98 percent, Public Bank slumped 1.31 percent, QL Resources perked 0.15 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.17 percent, Sime Darby added 0.77 percent, SD Guthrie climbed 1.09 percent, Sunway declined 1.47 percent, Telekom Malaysia shed 0.58 percent, Tenaga Nasional dropped 1.01 percent, YTL Corporation retreated 1.60 percent, YTL Power tumbled 1.67 percent and Hong Leong Bank, Hong Leong Financial, Maybank, MISC, MRDIY, CIMB Group, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Genting Malaysia were unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday and spent the whole day in the green, ending near session highs. The Dow jumped 462.28 points or 1.14 percent to finish at 41,175.08, while the NASDAQ rallied 258.39 points or 1.47 percent to end at 17,877.79 and the S&P 500 advanced 63.97 points or 1.15 percent to close at 5,634.61. For the week, the Dow shot up 1.3 percent, the NASDAQ jumped 1.4 percent and the S&P 500 spiked 1.5 percent. The rebound on Wall Street came as highly anticipated remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated the central bank is prepared to begin lowering interest rates at its next monetary policy meeting in September. In other U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department noted a substantial increase by new home sales in the U.S. in July. Following the rebound in the previous session, the price of crude oil showed another strong move to the upside on Friday. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery surged $1.82 or 2.5 percent to $74.83 a barrel after jumping $1.08 or 1.5 percent to $73.01 a barrel during Thursday's session. But the price of crude oil fell by 0.9 for the week due to sell-off earlier in the week.