Malaysia Bourse May Give Up Support At 1,600 Points

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has ticked lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost 5 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,610-point plateau and it may extend its losses again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on weakness from the technology stocks and ahead of key U.S. inflation data later in the week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished slightly lower again on Monday following weakness from the industrial sector and mixed performances from the financials, plantations and telecoms.

For the day, the index eased 1.82 points or 0.11 percent to finish at the daily high of 1,611.43 after moving as low as 1,602.94.

Among the actives, Celcomdigi shed 0.54 percent, while CIMB Group perked 0.12 percent, Genting gained 0.55 percent, Genting Malaysia jumped 1.42 percent, IHH Healthcare improved 1.37 percent, IOI Corporation rose 0.51 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong stumbled 1.65 percent, Maxis added 0.86 percent, Maybank sank 0.59 percent, MISC fell 0.27 percent, MRDIY tumbled 1.59 percent, Nestle Malaysia increased 0.42 percent, Petronas Chemicals retreated 1.43 percent, PPB Group lost 0.31 percent, Press Metal dropped 0.60 percent, Public Bank slumped 0.87 percent, QL Resources climbed 1.03 percent, RHB Bank collected 0.92 percent, Sime Darby declined 1.25 percent, SD Guthrie advanced 1.00 percent, Sunway skidded 0.62 percent, Telekom Malaysia gathered 0.30 percent, Tenaga Nasional rallied 2.22 percent, YTL Corporation plummeted 4.00 percent, YTL Power plunged 2.41 percent and Axiata was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Monday but quickly fell into the red and stayed that way for the balance of the session.

The Dow dropped 240.59 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 44,401.93, while the NASDAQ slumped 123.0.8 points or 0.62 percent to end at 19,736.69 and the S&P 500 sank 37.42 points or 0.61 percent to close at 6,052.85.

A slump by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) weighed on the markets, with the AI darling tumbling by 2.6 percent amid news a Chinese regulator has launched an investigation into whether the chipmaker violated antimonopoly laws.

The weakness on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data later in the week.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points next week, there is some uncertainty about whether the central bank will continue cutting rates next year.

Oil prices climbed higher on geopolitical tensions and optimism that the Chinese central bank will loosen its monetary policy to boost economic growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $1.17 or 1.74 percent at $68.37 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will see October numbers for industrial production later today; in September, production was up 2.3 percent on year.