Malaysia Bourse May Head South Again On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Monday halted the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 25 points or 1.4 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,700-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to a renewed spike in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the industrials and plantations were capped by weakness among the financial shares and utilities.

For the day, the index added 11.27 points or 0.67 percent to finish at the daily high of 1.698.01 after moving as low as 1,682.49.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Monday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, although well off session lows.

The Dow shed 152.09 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 52,421.20, while the NASDAQ sank 146.62 points or 0.56 percent to close at 26,186.41 and the S&P 500 fell 37.03 points or 0.48 percent to end at 7,619.98.

The pullback on Wall Street came amid a substantial rebound by the price of crude oil following news that a planned meeting in Oman between Iran and Gulf states over reopening Hormuz has been postponed.

Crude oil prices jumped on Monday after Saudi Arabia confirmed closing its East-West pipeline following attacks by Houthi militants. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.52 or 1.52 percent at $101.57 per barrel.

Selling pressure in the tech sector has also been generated amid renewed worries about artificial intelligence after industry leaders called for a slowdown in the pace of AI development.

Traders are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy decision later this week. With oil prices surging and recent data pointing to stick inflation, CME Group's FedWatch tool is currently showing a nearly 90 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by a quarter point.