Losing Streak May Continue For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, dropping more than 40 points or 2.9 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,380-point plateau and it may again extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains soft amidst uncertainty over interest rates and the health of the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses are likely to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the telecoms, gains from the glove makers and mixed performances from the financials and plantations.

For the day, the index shed 6.25 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 1,380.57 after trading between 1,376.54 and 1,391.47. Volume was 1.847 billion shares worth 1.559 billion ringgit. There were 490 decliners and 344 gainers.

Among the actives, Axiata plummeted 4.65 percent, while CIMB Group rose 0.19 percent, Dialog Group tumbled 3.16 percent, Digi.com declined 2.35 percent, Genting weakened 1.58 percent, Genting Malaysia surrendered 2.97 percent, Hartalega Holdings surged 3.59 percent, IHH Healthcare slumped 1.95 percent, INARI plunged 4.05 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong climbed 1.52 percent, Maybank advanced 0.83 percent, Maxis dropped 0.58 percent, MISC lost 0.14 percent, MRDIY tanked 3.55 percent, Petronas Chemicals and Sime Darby both shed 0.47 percent, PPB Group dipped 0.13 percent, Press Metal stumbled 1.67 percent, Public Bank collected 0.48 percent, RHB Capital sank 0.55 percent, Sime Darby Plantations retreated 2.24 percent, Telekom Malaysia skidded 0.76 percent, Tenaga Nasional eased 0.12 percent, Top Glove jumped 1.60 percent and IOI Corporation, Hong Leong Bank and Petronas Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened lower, bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before a late slide saw them finish with mild losses.

The Dow shed 28.34 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 29,210.85, while the NASDAQ eased 9.09 points or 0.09 percent to close at 10,417.10 and the S&P 500 fell 11.81 points or 0.33 percent to end at 3,577.03.

The late downward push came after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting, which showed that members expect interest rates to remain high till prices come down.

The members also lowered their projections for the economy and expect GDP to grow at just a 0.2 percent annualized pace in 2022 and just 1.2 percent in 2023, well below trend and big drop from 2021, which saw the strongest gains since 1984.

Also, the Labor Department said the Producer Price Index for final demand in the U.S. increased by 0.4 percent month-over-month in September, rising for the first time in three months.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday, falling for a third straight session amid concerns about the outlook for demand due to slowing global growth after OPEC cut its demand forecast for this year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $2.02 or 2.26 percent at $87.33 a barrel.