Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for Eid-ul-Adha, the Malaysia stock market had halted the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 20 points or 1.4 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,425-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of quarterly earnings and on renewed pandemic concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the financials, telecoms and plantations were capped by weakness from the glove makers.

For the day, the index added 7.10 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 1,425.79 after trading between 1,420.63 and 1,427.20. Volume was 1.618 billion shares worth 1.119 billion ringgit. There were 445 gainers and 343 decliners.

Among the actives, Axiata climbed 1.11 percent, while CIMB Group advanced 0.98 percent, Dialog Group gained 0.50 percent, Digi.com rallied 1.45 percent, Hartalega Holdings plummeted 6.43 percent, IHH Healthcare and Maybank both rose 0.47 percent, INARI surged 2.69 percent, IOI Corporation spiked 1.88 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong increased 0.68 percent, Maxis improved 0.90 percent, MISC tumbled 2.16 percent, MRDIY jumped 1.46 percent, Petronas Chemicals accelerated 1.56 percent, PPB Group added 0.52 percent, Press Metal perked 0.23 percent, Public Bank collected 0.92 percent, RHB Capital fell 0.18 percent, Sime Darby dropped 0.91 percent, Sime Darby Plantations was up 0.49 percent, Telekom Malaysia soared 2.34 percent, Tenaga Nasional shed 0.50 percent, Top Glove stumbled 1.98 percent and Genting, Genting Malaysia and Hong Leong Financial were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened firmly lower on Monday and largely remained that way throughout the session.

The Dow sank 164.31 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 31.173.84, while the NASDAQ plummeted 262.71 points or 2.26 percent to finish at 11,372.60 and the S&P 500 dropped 44.95 points or 1.15 percent to end at 3,854.43.

Renewed Covid concerns contributed to the weakness on Wall Street as Shanghai reported its first case of the highly infectious BA.5 omicron sub-variant, raising fears of more lockdowns.

Macau also closed all its casinos for the first time in over two years on Monday after a coronavirus outbreak in the world's biggest gambling hub.

Light trading activity may have exaggerated the downward move, as some traders stuck to the sidelines amid a lack of major U.S. economic data and corporate earnings.

Crude oil prices slipped Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid a surge in coronavirus cases in China, while the dollar's jump amid expectations of sharp interest rate hikes also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $0.70 or 0.7 percent at $104.90 a barrel.