Little Movement Expected For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has racked lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking almost 25 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,475-point plateau and it's expected to remain in that neighborhood again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with little change ahead of key economic events that are likely to affect the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and flat and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the glove makers and mixed performances from the financials, plantations and telecoms.

For the day, the index shed 9.58 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 1,476.96 after trading between 1,467.26 and 1,486.68. Volume was 3.4 billion shares worth 2.47 billion ringgit. There were 564 gainers and 409 decliners, with 358 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Axiata spiked 1.98 percent, while CIMB Group rose 0.34 percent, Dialog Group jumped 1.36 percent, Digi.com and IOI Corporation both tumbled 2.51 percent, Genting dropped 0.67 percent, Genting Malaysia climbed 0.76 percent, Hartalega Holdings tanked 3.83 percent, IHH Healthcare skidded 0.83 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 0.38 percent, Maybank collected 0.35 percent, Maxis lost 0.26 percent, MISC sank 0.69 percent, Petronas Chemicals plummeted 6.17 percent, PPB Group perked 0.12 percent, Press Metal retreated 1.23 percent, Public Bank declined 2.43 percent, RHB Capital shed 0.35 percent, Sime Darby slumped 0.90 percent, Sime Darby Plantations added 0.46 percent, Telekom Malaysia advanced 0.72 percent, Tenaga Nasional surged 2.73 percent, Top Glove plunged 3.85 percent and INARI, MRDIY and Nestle were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests a mild negative bias as the major averages opened higher, tumbled mid-session but then bounced back to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 3.07 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 33,852.53, while the NASDAQ lost 65.72 points or 0.59 percent to end at 10,983.78 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.31 points or 0.16 percent to close at 3,957.63.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid lingering uncertainty about the situation in China following widespread protests over the country's Covid restrictions.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later today, which may offer additional clues about the outlook for interest rates. Jobless data follows on Friday.

In economic news, the Conference Board released a report showing a modest decrease in U.S. consumer confidence in November.

Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session on hopes that OPEC may trim production to support prices later this week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $$0.96 or 1.2 percent at $78.20 a barrel.