Maja Stark takes 2nd-round lead at LPGA Malaysia with Marina Alex 1 stroke behind

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Maja Stark shot a 6-under 66 Friday to take the lead after two rounds of the LPGA Tour's Maybank Championship, with a 34-year-old American just one stroke behind.

Storms forced an early stop to play, with about 12 players — all of them several strokes out of the lead — having to halt their rounds but they were able to complete them later Friday.

Stark had a two-round total of 12-under 132 on the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club course. The Swedish player's round included four consecutive birdies from the 10th through 13th holes.

The veteran American was Marina Alex, playing in her 20th tournament this year and with two career wins since joining the tour in 2013. Alex had the best round of the day, her 64 moving her up 24 places on the leaderboard to second.

Alex was tied with South Korean player Narin An, who birdied her final hole for a 67, and two other players.

The American birdied the 16th and 18th holes and got a big bonus when she holed out from the fairway for an eagle on on the par-4 17th.

“I believe it was 131 (yards), slightly downwind,” Alex said of her 9-iron approach on 17. "The wind has kind of just been a little bit all over the place here. I don’t know if there is some storms coming through.

“I thought it might come up a little bit short but pitched three or four short and it went in. It was really tough to see because I’m standing a bit lower and the green is a touch elevated. The people up by the green were pretty pumped about it.”

First-round leader and tour rookie Mao Saigo was one of those affected by the suspension. After shooting an opening 63, she completed her round Friday with a 74 and was at 7-under, five strokes behind.

Defending champion Celine Boutier shot 69 and was at 8-under, four strokes behind Stark.

Boutier has been one of the hottest players on the Asian swing, with back-to-back top-10 finishes at Shanghai (tied for ninth) two weeks ago and in South Korea (2nd) last week.

Boutier’s win last year was anything but routine in the tournament’s first year. Boutier and Jeeno Thitikul tied for first place at 21-under par, then played a nine-hole playoff which the French player won. The playoff tied for the second-longest in LPGA Tour history.

Keeping pace with her playoff partner from last year, Thitikul also shot 69 Friday and was level with Boutier at 8-under.

Hannah Green, who earned her third victory of 2024 and sixth of her career last week in South Korea, shot a 69 and was at 4-under, eight strokes behind. Brooke Henderson shot 74 Friday and was 2 under.

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Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand tees off on the third hole during the second round of Maybank LPGA Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Yuka Saso of Japan watches her fairway shot on the third hole during the second round of Maybank LPGA Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand watches her fairway shot on the third hole during the second round of Maybank LPGA Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Narin An of South Korea's watches her fairway shot on the third hole during the second round of Maybank LPGA Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Amy Yang of South Korea's watches her fairway shot on the third hole during the second round of Maybank LPGA Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Celine Boutier of France watches her fairway shot on the third hole during the second round of Maybank LPGA Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Marina Alex of the United States hits from a fairway bunker at the 3rd fairway during the first round of Maybank LPGA Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Maja Stark of Sweden hits from a fairway at the 2nd fairway during the first round of Maybank LPGA Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Maja Stark of Sweden watches her fairway shot on the third hole during the second round of Maybank LPGA Championship golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country club in Kuala Lumpur, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

HONG KONG (AP) — European markets opened lower on Friday while Asian stocks mostly advanced. Japan's benchmark declined as investors awaited the outcome of an election on Sunday.

Germany’s DAX dropped 0.1% at 19,417.91. In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.4% to 7,473.20. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1% lower to 8,258.16. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both went up by 0.1%.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took office just weeks ago, called the snap general election to drum up support as the ruling Liberal Democrats grapple with a political funding scandal. For once, the LDP could be facing a major setback that could bring some changes to the economic outlook, analysts said.

“Polls suggest that Japan's ruling party, the LDP, could lose its Lower House majority on Sunday for the first time since its brief stint out of power ended in 2012,” Mark Williams of Capital Economics said in a commentary.

If the ruling party fails to secure enough support for a ruling coalition with the Komeito, its longtime partner, “things would look different,” he said.

The recent political shifts have added to uncertainty for markets, complicating the Bank of Japan's efforts to shift away from long-standing near-zero interest rates.

Core inflation in Japan’s capital was 1.8% in October, lower than the central bank’s 2% target for the first time in five months, the government reported. That reinforced expectations that the central bank will keep its key interest rate unchanged at a policy meeting next week.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.6% to 37,913.92, while the Japanese yen fell against the U.S. dollar. On Friday, the dollar was trading at 151.99 yen, up from 151.89 yen.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.5% to 20,590.15, and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.6% to 3,299.70.

China’s central bank kept its medium-term lending rate unchanged at 2%. It also issued 700 billion yuan ($98.3 billion) in one-year medium-term lending facility loans to financial institutions, according to the bank’s statement.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.1% to 2,583.27 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed less than 0.1% to 8,211.30. Taiwan’s Taiex increased 0.7%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2%, breaking its first three-day losing streak since early September. It bounced between losses and gains through the day, and it was roughly evenly split between stocks rising and falling.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8%.

Tesla led the market with a jump of 21.9% after the electric-vehicle maker reported better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. An optimistic CEO Elon Musk also predicted 20%-30% sales growth next year, though revenue for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ forecasts. It was the best day for Tesla’s stock since 2013.

Boeing sank 1.2% after its machinists voted to continue their strike, which has crippled aircraft production. More than 60% of union members who voted on the proposed contract rejected it, keeping them on the picket lines six weeks into their strike.

Stocks have broadly retreated this week after the S&P 500 and Dow both set records at the end of last week. They’ve been hurt by rising Treasury yields in the bond market, which can make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks. Critics had already been saying beforehand that stocks looked too expensive given how much faster their prices have risen than corporate profits.

A report on unemployment claims Thursday offered a mixed picture on the job market. It said fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which can be a signal of relatively low layoffs. But it also said the total number of those collecting benefits rose to its highest level in almost three years.

In other dealings early Friday, benchmark U.S. crude picked up 7 cents to $70.26 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 6 cents to $74.09 a barrel.

The euro fell to $1.0825 from $1.0828.

FILE - The Fearless Girl statue, with a flower draped on the shoulder, stands outside the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader reads documents at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)