Renewed Consolidation Called For Malaysia Bourse

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slipped more than 10 points or 0.6 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,540-point plateau and it's likely to head south again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation ahead of key data later this week that could affect the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished barely higher on Monday following gains from the plantations, weakness from the telecoms and a and mixed performance from the financial shares.

For the day, the index perked 1.25 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 1,539.27 after trading between 1,537.03 and 1,547.10.

Among the actives, Axiata stumbled 1.82 percent, while Celcomdigi fell 0.23 percent, CIMB Group accelerated 1.74 percent, Genting gained 0.43 percent, Genting Malaysia soared 1.79 percent, IHH Healthcare retreated 1.47 percent, IOI Corporation spiked 1.75 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong jumped 1.27 percent, Maxis rose 0.27 percent, Maybank rallied 1.59 percent, MISC and PPB Group both eased 0.13 percent, MRDIY skidded 1.27 percent, Petronas Chemicals sank 0.72 percent, Press Metal dipped 0.21 percent, Public Bank declined 1.38 percent, QL Resources and YTL Power both advanced 0.51 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.18 percent, Sime Darby tumbled 1.87 percent, Sime Darby Plantations added 0.46 percent, Telekom Malaysia slumped 1.34 percent, Tenaga Nasional dropped 0.88 percent and YTL Corporation surged 2.69 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday, rallied in the afternoon but sank back into the red by the close.

The Dow dropped 97.55 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 38,989.83, while the NASDAQ sank 67.43 points or 0.41 percent to close at 16,207.51 and the S&P 500 eased 6.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 5,130.95.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of caution on the part of investors, with several significant data points on tap for the coming days.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony will be in focus for clues about the outlook for interest rates. Powell is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

Then on Friday is the Labor Department's highly anticipated employment report for February, which also could affect the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures ended lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand after OPEC extended its output cuts to the end of the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.23 or 1.5 percent at 78.74 a barrel.