Little Movement Seen For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had risen more than 15 points or 1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,625-point plateau and it's likely to remain rangebound again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on valuation concerns, especially among technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The KLCI finished slightly higher on Monday as the financial hares and telecoms were mostly in the green, while the industrials were soft and the plantations came in mixed.

For the day, the index rose 1.76 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,627.43 after trading between 1,626.23 and 1,633.84. Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail improved 0.62 percent, while AMMB Holdings advanced 0.69 percent, Axiata spiked 1.85 percent, Celcomdigi slipped 0.28 percent, CIMB Group climbed 1.06 percent, Gamuda rallied 1.35 percent, IHH Healthcare dropped 0.85 percent, IOI Corporation rose 0.24 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong stumbled 2.35 percent, Maxis jumped 1.22 percent, Maybank eased 0.10 percent, MISC gained 0.39 percent, MRDIY retreated 1.30 percent, Nestle Malaysia lost 0.44 percent, Petronas Chemicals sank 0.58 percent, Petronas Gas fell 0.43 percent, Press Metal increased 0.47 percent, Public Bank and QL Resources both perked 0.23 percent, RHB Bank collected 0.58 percent, Sime Darby soared 1.99 percent, SD Guthrie shed 0.56 percent, Sunway surged 2.04 percent, Telekom Malaysia added 0.56 percent, Tenaga Nasional slumped 1.04 percent, YTL Corporation tanked 2.02 percent, YTL Power tumbled 1.59 percent and Petronas Dagangan and PPB Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages spent the first half of Monday's trade relatively flat before tumbling in the afternoon, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow tumbled 557.24 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 46,590.24, while the NASDAQ dropped 192.51 points or 0.84 percent to close at 22,708.07 and the S&P 500 sank 61.70 points or 0.92 percent to end at 6,672.41.

The weakness on Wall Street came as valuation concerns resurfaced ahead of the release of quarterly results from Nvidia (NVDA) after the markets close on Wednesday.

Traders were also looking ahead to the release of U.S. economic data that was delayed due to the government shutdown. While the reports will be backward looking, the data could still impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting in December.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Tuesday as long-term oversupply concerns of a supply-demand mismatch continue to linger. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery dipped $0.09 or 0.13 percent at $60.01 per barrel.