Renewed Consolidation Called For Malaysia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had slipped more than 25 points or 1.6 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,655-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Wednesday,

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KLCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index rose 7.48 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 1,656.39 after trading between 1,643.11 and 1,657.32.

Among the actives, Axiata slumped 0.79 percent, while Celcomdigi rose 0.54 percent, CIMB Group gathered 0.50 percent, Genting added 0.71 percent, Genting Malaysia increased 0.83 percent, IHH Healthcare improved 1.12 percent, IOI Corporation sank 0.53 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong spiked 2.24 percent, Maxis shed 0.51 percent, Maybank collected 0.57 percent, MISC jumped 1.67 percent, MRDIY tumbled 1.89 percent, Petronas Chemicals surged 2.84 percent, Petronas Dagangan soared 2.58 percent, Petronas Gas eased 0.11 percent, PPB Group strengthened 1.24 percent, Press Metal fell 0.20 percent, Public Bank advanced 1.10 percent, QL Resources dropped 0.64 percent, RHB Bank gained 0.65 percent, Sime Darby perked 0.41 percent, SD Guthrie retreated 0.84 percent, Sunway climbed 1.19 percent, Telekom Malaysia was up 0.15 percent, Tenaga Nasional lost 0.28 percent, YTL Power rallied 1.37 percent and YTL Corporation was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow dropped 173.18 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 42,156.97, while the NASDAQ plummeted 278.81 points or 1.53 percent to close at 17,910.36 and the S&P sank 53.73 points or 0.93 percent to end at 5,708.75.

The weakness on Wall Street came on rising tensions in the Middle East after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Israel. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the attack was in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others in recent Israeli airstrikes.

A senior White House official said earlier in the day that the U.S. had indications Iran was preparing to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel, contributing to the early sell-off by stocks.

The news from the Middle East largely overshadowed separate report showing a continued contraction by U.S. manufacturing activity in September and an unexpected increase by U.S. job openings in August.

Oil prices moved higher on Tuesday amid the possibility of tight supplies due to an escalation in tensions in the Middle East after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November closed up $1.66 or nearly 2.5 percent at $69.83 a barrel.