Malaysia Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost a dozen points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,620-point plateau and it figures to remain in that neighborhood again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on easing oil prices and a rebound among battered technology stocks. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KLCI finished slightly higher again on Tuesday as gains from the financial shares and commercial services were offset by weakness from the technology and petrochemical companies.

For the day, the index perked 2.34 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 1,621.85 after trading between 1,616.19 and 1,625.88.

The lead from Wall Street is a study in contrasts as the NASDAQ and S&P 500 opened higher on Tuesday and stayed that way, while the Dow opened in the red and remained under water throughout the day.

The Dow dropped 197.26 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 51,786.72, while the NASDAQ jumped 207.65 points or 0.83 percent to close at 25,372.01 and the S&P 500 added 27.52 points or 0.36 percent to end at 7,568.92.

The pullback by the Dow reflected a big decline by shares of Apple (AAPL), which slumped 1.9 percent after it posted increased quarterly revenue and profits but forecast slightly below consensus gross margin for the current quarter.

Semiconductor stocks helped lead the tech sector higher, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging by 2.6 percent after ending the previous session at a six-month closing low.

Computer hardware, software and networking stocks also saw considerable strength following recent weakness.

Crude oil prices turned lower on Tuesday amid rising expectations on a possible settlement between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.52 or 0.54 percent at $95.94 per barrel.