Malaysia Bourse May See Additional Selling Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 35 points or 2.1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,540-point plateau and it's likely to open under water again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed trade and tariff concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares and industrials, while the plantations and telecoms were mixed.

For the day, the index sank 12.65 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 1,537.54 after trading between 1,534.67 and 1,544.74.

Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail surged 2.27 percent, while AMMB Holdings rose 0.19 percent, Axiata gained 0.43 percent, Celcomdigi shed 0.51 percent, CIMB Group fell 0.30 percent, Gamuda tanked 2.75 percent, Hong Leong Bank collected 0.31 percent, IHH Healthcare lost 0.44 percent, IOI Corporation climbed 1.07 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong added 0.58 percent, Maxis slid 0.28 percent, Maybank dipped 0.21 percent, MISC tumbled 1.68 percent, Nestle Malaysia sank 0.54 percent, Petronas Chemicals plunged 2.86 percent, PPB Group declined 1.15 percent, Press Metal eased 0.19 percent, Public Bank slumped 1.14 percent, QL Resources slipped 0.22 percent, RHB Bank dropped 0.62 percent, Sime Darby stumbled 2.37 percent, SD Guthrie skidded 0.83 percent, Sunway was down 0.20 percent, Tenaga Nasional retreated 1.85 percent, YTL Corporation surrendered 2.02 percent, YTL Power plummeted 5.10 percent and MRDIY and Telekom Malaysia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened under water and trended steadily lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 422.17 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 44,406.36, while the NASDAQ sank 188.59 points or 0.92 percent to end at 20,412.52 and the S&P 500 dropped 49.37 points or 0.79 percent to close at 6,229.98.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflect profit taking following the strong upward move seen over the past few sessions.

Further selling pressure was generated in afternoon trading after President Donald Trump shared screen shots on Truth Social of letter sent to various world leaders about new tariffs set to be imposed on August 1st.

Imports from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Kazakhstan are now set to face 25 percent tariffs, according to the letters Trump posted.

Crude oil prices edged higher Monday, shrugging off oversupply concerns triggered by OPEC's decision to accelerate its production increase starting in August. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery rose $0.93 to settle at $67.93 per barrel.