Renewed Selling Pressure Likely For Malaysia Stock Market

The Malaysia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 15 points or 1 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,525-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft following disappointing economic and earnings news, plus sinking crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, plantation stocks and glove makers.

For the day, the index jumped 20.69 points or 1.38 percent to finish at 1,523.59 after trading between 1,505.27 and 1,524.71.

Among the actives, Axiata advanced 2.09 percent, while CIMB Group added 2.00 percent, Dialog Group jumped 3.10 percent, Genting increased 0.42 percent, Genting Malaysia rose 0.35 percent, Hartalega Holdings spiked 3.21 percent, IHH Healthcare dipped 0.34 percent, IOI Corporation strengthened 2.12 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 0.41 percent, Maybank collected 0.99 percent, Maxis rose 1.37 percent, MISC climbed 2.55 percent, MRDIY gathered 2.37 percent, Petronas Chemicals gained 0.63 percent, PPB Group eased 0.11 percent, Press Metal surged 3.87 percent, Public Bank added 0.51 percent, RHB Capital increased 0.76 percent, Sime Darby soared 3.79 percent, Sime Darby Plantations rallied 3.03 percent, Telekom Malaysia improved 1.22 percent, Tenaga Nasional gained 1.95 percent, Top Glove perked 2.17 percent and Digi.com and Petronas Gas were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened Tuesday in the red and stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 282.12 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 35,343.28, while the NASDAQ dropped 137.58 points or 0.93 percent to close at 14,656.18 and the S&P 500 sank 31.63 points or 0.71 percent to end at 4,448.08.

The weakness on Wall Street followed a Commerce Department report showing U.S. retail sales tumbled much more than expected in July.

A steep drop by shares of Home Depot (HD) also weighed on the markets, with the home improvement retailer plunging by 4.3 percent after reporting second quarter earnings that beat estimates but weaker than expected same-store sales growth.

Meanwhile, retail giant Wal-Mart (WMT) closed nearly unchanged after reporting better than expected second quarter results and raising its full-year guidance.

Crude oil futures settled lower Tuesday, extending losses to a fourth straight session, amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to a surge in cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $0.70 or 1 percent at $66.59 a barrel.