Malaysia Shares May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, slipping almost 7 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,450-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks, telecoms and industrials.

For the day, the index dipped 1.56 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,449.46 after trading between 1,444.58 and 1,451.59.

Among the actives, AMMB Holdings lost 0.49 percent, while Axiata advanced 0.83 percent, Celcomdigi improved 0.71 percent, CIMB Group sank 0.52 percent, Dialog Group retreated 1.45 percent, Genting tumbled 1.51 percent, Genting Malaysia fell 0.37 percent, IOI Corporation rose 0.25 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong eased 0.09 percent, Maybank perked 0.11 percent, MRDIY dropped 0.65 percent, Petronas Chemicals and Westports Holdings both gained 0.28 percent, Public Bank declined 0.70 percent, RHB Capital collected 0.55 percent, Sime Darby added 0.42 percent, Tenaga Nasional dipped 0.10 percent and Hong Leong Bank, Hong Leong Financial, Maxis, MISC, PPB Group, Press Metal, Sime Darby Plantations, Telekom Malaysia, IHH Healthcare and Petronas Gas all were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is again inconsistent as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday. The NASDAQ quickly broke into the green and ended positive, but the Dow and S&P stayed in the red.

The Dow shed 79.88 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 36,124.56, while the NASDAQ gained 44.42 points or 0.31 percent to close at 14,229.91 and the S&P 500 fell 2.60 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,567.18.

The initial weakness on Wall Street came as traders continued to cash in on recent strength in the markets amid concerns optimism about the outlook for interest rates has led to overbought conditions.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged in the coming months, traders may need more evidence to solidify hopes of a rate cut in the near future.

The subsequent rebound came as a Labor Department report may have reinforced those hopes, showing a bigger than expected decrease in U.S. job openings in October.

Oil prices dropped on Tuesday for a fourth straight session, on lingering concerns about the outlook for demand and on disappointment over the small size of additional output cuts announced by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $0.72 or 1 percent at $72.32 a barrel.