Losing Streak May Continue For Malaysia Shares

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, slumping almost 25 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,570-point plateau and it's likely to open under pressure again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with weakness expected from the technology and oil companies. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares, telecoms and plantations.

For the day, the index skidded 16.22 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 1,568.03 after trading between 1,564.32 and 1,583.74.

Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail fell 0.93 percent, while Axiata tanked 2.84 percent, CIMB Group weakened 1.79 percent, Gamuda slid 0.67 percent, IHH Healthcare improved 0.83 percent, IOI Corporation slipped 0.52 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong shed 1.40 percent, Maxis sank 1.44 percent, Maybank and Hong Leong Bank both were down 0.19 percent, MISC added 0.82 percent, MRDIY declined 1.96 percent, Nestle Malaysia dropped 1.64 percent, Petronas Chemicals lost 1.07 percent, PPB Group eased 0.18 percent, Press Metal tumbled 2.14 percent, Public Bank dipped 0.22 percent, QL Resources rose 0.21 percent, RHB Bank slumped 1.95 percent, SD Guthrie plummeted 3.40 percent, Sunway retreated 2.13 percent, Telekom Malaysia plunged 2.90 percent, Tenaga Nasional skidded 1.76 percent, YTL Corporation stumbled 2.59 percent, YTL Power surrendered 2.21 percent and Celcomdigi and Sime Darby were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly soft as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and finished in similar fashion.

The Dow gained 159.95 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 43,621.16, while the NASDAQ plummeted 260.54 points or 1.35 percent to close at 19,026.39 and the S&P 500 sank 28.00 points or 0.47 percent to end at 5,955.25.

Significant weakness among technology stocks weighed on Wall Street, as reflected the notable slump by the tech-heavy NASDAQ.

Traders continued to express concerns about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence trade ahead of the release of AI darling Nvidia's (NVDA) fourth quarter results on Wednesday.

The selling pressure also spurred concerns about the outlook for the economy after a Conference Board report showing a significant deterioration by U.S. consumer confidence in February.

Oil futures settled sharply lower on Tuesday as concerns about demand and oversupply in the market weighed and pushed the commodity's prices to the lowest level in about 11 weeks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April settled lower by $1.77 or at $68.93 a barrel.