Malaysia Stock Market May Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 25 points or 1.5 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,675-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on concerns over the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The KLCI finished barely lower on Tuesday following losses from the financials, plantations and properties.

For the day, the index eased 1.54 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 1,676.65 after trading between 1,673.86 and 1,684.06.

Among the actives, Celcomdigi plummeted 2.62 percent, while CIMB Group dropped 0.60 percent, Genting rose 0.23 percent, IHH Healthcare added 0.47 percent, IOI Corporation tanked 2.25 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and RHB Capital both slumped 0.65 percent, Maxis shed 0.52 percent, Maybank sank 0.56 percent, MISC gained 0.24 percent, MRDIY lost 0.48 percent, Petronas Chemicals plunged 2.27 percent, PPB Group tumbled 1.90 percent, Press Metal skidded 0.61 percent, Public Bank climbed 1.05 percent, Sime Darby surrendered 1.98 percent, SD Guthrie fell 0.22 percent, Sunway jumped 1.21 percent, Telekom Malaysia declined 0.88 percent, Tenaga Nasional rallied 2.34 percent, YTL Corporation advanced 0.66 percent, YTL Power retreated 1.25 percent and Axiata, Genting Malaysia and QL Resources were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened firmly in the red and only got worse as the day progressed.

The Dow plunged 626.15 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 40,836.93, while the NASDAQ plummeted 577.33 points or 3.26 percent to close at 17,136.30 and the S&P 500 tumbled 119.47 points or 2.12 percent to end at 5,528.93.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after the Institute for Supply Management noted continued decline by U.S. manufacturing activity in August. A separate report from the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a modest decrease by U.S. construction spending in July.

The weakness on Wall Street also came as some traders look to cash in on the previous session's gains amid lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

The Federal Reserve is almost universally expected to lower rates at its next meeting later this month, but there is some disagreement about the pace of rate cuts. According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, there is a 63.0 percent chance of a quarter-point rate cut later this month and a 37.0 percent chance of a half-point rate cut.

Oil prices fell sharply to a nine-month low on Tuesday on prospects of oversupply from OPEC weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down by $3.21 or 4.4 percent at $70.34 a barrel.