Malaysia Stock Market May Hand Back Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the three-day slide in which it had dipped almost 5 points or 0.3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,460-point plateau although it figures to see renewed consolidation on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns about economic outlook and expectations for interest rates. The Eruopean and U.S. markets were solidly lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financials and telecoms were capped by weakness from the plantation stocks.

For the day, the index perked 3.28 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 1,460.28 after trading between 1,456.27 and 1,463.29.

Among the actives, Axiata sank 0.75 percent, while Celcomdigi advanced 0.68 percent, CIMB Group and RHB Capital both improved 0.53 percent, Dialog Group spiked 1.35 percent, Genting Malaysia gained 0.38 percent, IHH Healthcare rose 0.17 percent, IOI Corporation retreated 1.47 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong declined 1.04 percent, Maxis rallied 1.27 percent, Maybank collected 0.33 percent, MISC lost 0.56 percent, MRDIY dropped 0.64 percent, Petronas Chemicals fell 0.44 percent, PPB Group eased 0.25 percent, Press Metal slid 0.41 percent, Public Bank jumped 1.45 percent, Sime Darby Plantations tumbled 1.79 percent, Telekom Malaysia added 0.40 percent, Tenaga Nasional climbed 0.92 percent, Westports Holdings slumped 0.87 percent and Genting and Sime Darby were unchanged.

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

The Dow tumbled 361.24 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 34,946.39, while the NASDAQ slumped 157.28 points or 1.14 percent to close at 13,631.05 and the S&P 500 sank 51.86 points or 1.16 percent to end at 4,437.86.

Worries about the health of the Chinese economy, and concerns that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates higher for a longer time to contain inflation weigh on sentiment.

A warning from Fitch that it may have to downgrade credit ratings of several banks, including JP Morgan, is hurting as well.

Oil prices fell sharply Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand following a batch of weak economic data from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September sank $1.52 or 1.8 percent at $80.99 a barrel.