Continued Consolidation Called For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slipping almost 5 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,640-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative amid rising treasury yields and pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the telecoms, gains from the financials and a mixed picture from the plantation stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index dipped 1.01 points or 0.06 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,641.53 after moving as high as 1,645.90.

Among the actives, Axiata stumbled 1.23 percent, while Celcomdigi dropped 0.56 percent, CIMB Group and Genting both perked 0.25 percent, Genting Malaysia gained 0.43 percent, Hong Leong Bank collected 0.85 percent, IHH Healthcare and Tenaga Nasional both lost 0.28 percent, IOI Corporation sank 0.53 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong advanced 0.47 percent, Maxis declined 1.05 percent, MISC gathered 0.26 percent, MRDIY spiked 1.38 percent, PPB Group rose 0.42 percent, Press Metal tumbled 1.85 percent, QL Resources shed 0.42 percent, RHB Bank rallied 1.25 percent, Sime Darby slumped 0.83 percent, SD Guthrie retreated 1,24 percent, Sunway and YTL Corporation both added 0.45 percent, Telekom Malaysia skidded 0.61 percent, YTL Power climbed 1.18 percent and Maybank, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals were unchanged.

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

The Dow plunged 409.94 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 42,514.95, while the NASDAQ plummeted 296.47 points or 1.60 percent to close at 18,276.47 and the S&P 500 dropped 53.78 points or 0.92 percent to end at 5,797.42.

The weakness on Wall Street came amid a continued increase by treasury yields, which have moved sharply higher over the past few sessions.

The yield on the benchmark ten-year note has risen to its highest level in almost three months amid worries the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates slower than previously anticipated.

While the Fed is still widely expected to lower interest rates by a quarter-point next month, there is increasing skepticism about another rate cut in December.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories last week, while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December fell $0.97 or 1.35 percent at $70.77 a barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will provide September figures for consumer prices later today; in August, inflation was up 0.1 percent on month and 1.9 percent on year.