Continued Consolidation Called For Malaysia Bourse

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had added almost 10 points or 0.6 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,500-point plateau and it may take further damage on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates and recession fears. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index dipped 3.88 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 1,495.50 after trading between 1,491.05 and 1,496.63.

Among the actives, Axiata dropped 0.66 percent, while CIMB Group tumbled 0.87 percent, Dialog Group dipped 0.39 percent, Digi.com plunged 2.34 percent, Genting Malaysia gained 0.36 percent, IHH Healthcare lost 0.50 percent, INARI rallied 1.15 percent, IOI Corporation advanced 0.51 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong plummeted 2.57 percent, Maybank rose 0.34 percent, Maxis spiked 1.56 percent, MISC jumped 1.37 percent, MRDIY sank 0.51 percent, Petronas Chemicals tanked 1.86 percent, Press Metal climbed 0.94 percent, Public Bank retreated 0.69 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.35 percent, Sime Darby fell 0.42 percent, Sime Darby Plantations perked 0.23 percent, Telekom Malaysia added 0.39 percent, Tenaga Nasional eased 0.32 percent and Genting and PPB Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages were unable to hold early support on Wednesday, quickly heading south and finishing near daily lows.

The Dow plummeted 613,89 points or 1.81 percent to finish at 33,296.96, while the NASDAQ tumbled 138.10 points or 1.24 percent to close at 10,957.01 and the S&P 500 sank 62.11 points or 1.56 percent to end at 3,928.86.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard commented that the central bank needs to quickly hike interest rates above 5 percent, shelving much of the recent optimism over interest rates.

Disappointing economic data also weighed as the Commerce Department reported a steep drop in U.S. retail sales in December. A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed industrial production in the U.S. fell by much more than expected in December.

As a result of the data, treasuries showed a substantial move to the upside, further stoking fears for the outlook of interest rates.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday amid concerns about a possible U.S. recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended lower by $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $79.48 a barrel.