Malaysia Shares Expected To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the long weekend for the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday, the Malaysia stock market had moved lower in four straight sessions, slipping more than a dozen points or 0.9 percent in that span. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,425-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower amid a lack of catalysts as investors take a wait-and-see attitude. The European markets finished slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets also figure to tick lower.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the telecoms and mixed performances from the financials and plantations. For the day, the index dipped 2.96 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 1,422.11 after trading between 1,418.82 and 1,428.64. Among the actives, Axiata shed 0.66 percent, while CIMB Group fell 0.57 percent, Dialog Group dropped 0.87 percent, Digi.com declined 1.13 percent, Genting slid 0.43 percent, Genting Malaysia advanced 0.75 percent, IHH Healthcare tumbled 2.05 percent, INARI surrendered 1.70 percent, IOI Corporation retreated 1.04 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong dipped 0.37 percent, Maxis jumped 1.17 percent, Maybank perked 0.12 percent, MISC climbed 0.97 percent, MRDIY lost 0.62 percent, Petronas Chemicals eased 0.14 percent, PPB Group sank 0.86 percent, Press Metal spiked 2.97 percent, Public Bank skidded 1.01 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.36 percent, Sime Darby added 0.47 percent, Sime Darby Plantations rose 0.23 percent, Telekom Malaysia slumped 0.80 percent, Tenaga Nasional gained 0.34 percent and AMMB Holdings was unchanged. The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Monday hugging the line before finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 66.44 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 33,875.40, while the NASDAQ dipped 35.25 points or 0.29 percent to close at 12,037.20 and the S&P 500 rose 3.52 points or 0.09 percent to end at 4,137.04.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders remained reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of earnings news from several big-name companies in the coming days.

Tech giants Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Intel (INTC), Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are among a slew of well-known companies due to report their quarterly results this week.

Reports on consumer confidence, new home sales, durable goods orders, first quarter GDP and personal income and spending are likely to attract attention in the coming days.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Monday following reports that OPEC is planning additional supply cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.89 or 1.1 percent at $78.76 a barrel.