Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For Malaysia Shares

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Wednesday snapped the four-day losing streak in which it had fallen more than a dozen points or 0.9 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,440-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with tech shares likely to weigh after disappointing earnings. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday as the financial shares, plantation stocks, industrials and telecoms were mostly higher.

For the day, the index added 6.86 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 1,442.51 after trading between 1,437.82 and 1,444.53.

Among the actives, Celcomdigi surged 1.93 percent, while CIMB Group and RHB Capital both perked 0.18 percent, Dialog Group sank 0.46 percent, Genting rose 0.25 percent, Genting Malaysia rallied 1.24 percent, IHH Healthcare advanced 0.85 percent, IOI Corporation improved 0.78 percent, Maxis jumped 1.02 percent, Maybank collected 0.45 percent, MISC and Press Metal both added 0.42 percent, MRDIY and AMMB Holdings both spiked 1.33 percent, Petronas Chemicals soared 1.40 percent, Public Bank increased 0.48 percent, Sime Darby dropped 0.87 percent, Sime Darby Plantations climbed 0.95 percent, Tenaga Nasional gained 0.30 percent, Westports Holdings fell 0.30 percent and Axiata, Kuala Lumpur Kepong, Telekom Malaysia and PPB Group were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but quickly headed south and finished near session lows.

The Dow dropped 105.45 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 33,035.93, while the NASDAQ plunged 318,65 points or 2.43 percent to close at 12,821,22 and the S&P 500 sank 60.91 points or 1.43 percent to end at 4,186.77.

The particularly steep drop by the NASDAQ reflected a negative reaction to quarterly results from Alphabet (GOOGL), with the Google parent plunging 9.5 percent after the company reported Q3 earnings that beat estimates but had weaker than expected revenue from its cloud business.

A renewed increase by treasury yields also weighed on the markets, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note spiking after ending the previous session little changed.

The surge by yields came as traders looked ahead to key economic data in the coming days, including a preliminary reading on third quarter GDP on Thursday and personal income on Friday.

Oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak amid likely disruptions in supply due to the tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $1.65 or 1.97 percent at $85.39 a barrel.