Malaysia Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, sinking almost 50 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,450-point plateau although it may finally find traction on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic as some traders believe the heavy selling in recent sessions has been overdone. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index sank 15.79 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 1,451.52 after trading between 1,446.04 and 1,460.91. Volume was 2.185 billion shares worth 1.763 billion ringgit. There were 706 decliners and 217 gainers.

Among the actives, Axiata jumped 1.43 percent, while CIMB Group strengthened 0.93 percent, Dialog Group weakened 2.18 percent, Digi.com eased 0.29 percent, Genting lost 0.67 percent, Genting Malaysia dropped 1.04 percent, Hartalega Holdings plunged 6.88 percent, IHH Healthcare slumped 2.53 percent, INARI tumbled 4.29 percent, IOI Corporation climbed 1.03 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose 0.18 percent, Maybank collected 0.58 percent, Maxis retreated 3.70 percent, MISC skidded 1.96 percent, MRDIY declined 3.79 percent, Petronas Chemicals dipped 0.35 percent, PPB Group surrendered 4.11 percent, Press Metal tanked 6.14 percent, Public Bank fell 0.45 percent, RHB Capital shed 0.70 percent, Sime Darby Plantations rallied 0.69 percent, Telekom Malaysia advanced 0.52 percent, Tenaga Nasional sank 0.80 percent, Top Glove plummeted 7.84 percent and Sime Darby was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened lower on Monday, bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before ending in the green.

The Dow jumped 197.26 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 31,019.68, while the NASDAQ jumped 86.62 points or 0.76 percent to close at 11,535.02 and the S&O 500 gained 26.56 points or 0.69 percent to end at 3,899.89.

Trading activity was subdued as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, although some see an outside chance for a 100 basis point rate hike.

A number of other major central banks around the world are also scheduled to announce their latest monetary policy decisions this week, including the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan.

Traders largely shrugged off a report from the National Association of Home Builders showing U.S. homebuilder confidence declined for the ninth consecutive month in September.

Oil prices recovered Monday after falling sharply, rebounding to end on a firm note amid concerns about supplies. A fairly steady dollar amid possible sharp hikes in interest rates limited oil's upside. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.62 or 0.7 percent at $85.73 a barrel.