Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Tuesday halted the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost a dozen points or 0.8 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index new rests just beneath the 1,500-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growth concerns, with energy and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials and telecoms were offset by weakness from the plantations.

For the day, the index rose 1.65 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,497.68 after trading between 1,495.00 and 1,501.03. Volume was 2.5 billion shares worth 1.26 billion ringgit. There were 395 decliners and 373 gainers.

Among the actives, Axiata added 0.34 percent, while CIMB Group rose 0.19 percent, Dialog Group spiked 0.90 percent, Digi.com gained 0.28 percent, Genting fell 0.21 percent, Genting Malaysia and Petronas Chemicals both lost 0.34 percent, Hartalega Holdings jumped 0.72 percent, IHH Healthcare dipped 0.16 percent, IOI Corporation sank 0.48 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong declined 0.62 percent, Maybank was up 0.11 percent, Maxis and Tenaga Nasional both soared 1.08 percent, MISC tumbled 0.70 percent, PPB Group retreated 0.61 percent, Press Metal plunged 1.26 percent, Public Bank and Sime Darby both advanced 0.43 percent, Sime Darby Plantations slumped 0.22 percent, Telekom Malaysia surged 1.64 percent and Top Glove, MRDIY, RHB Capital and INARI were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow shed 58.13 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 32,774.41, while the NASDAQ tumbled 150.53 points or 1.19 percent to end at 12,493.93 and the S&P 500 fell 17.59 points or 0.42 percent to close at 4,122.47.

Technology stocks helped to lead Wall Street lower, with semiconductor stocks turning in some of the worst performances after Micron Technology (MU) warned that it may miss its previous guidance.

The weakness also came as traders looked ahead to the release of a highly anticipated reading on U.S. consumer price inflation later today.

Crude oil futures settled modestly lower Tuesday on concerns about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $90.50 a barrel.