KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia stock market headed south again on Monday, one session after it had halted the two-day slide in which it had eased 6 points or 0.3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,860-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to heightened concerns of a trade war and plummeting crude oil prices. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower – and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The KLCI finished modestly lower on Monday following mixed performances from the financials and telecoms.
For the day, the index dipped 5.11 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 1,858.35 after trading between 1,857.44 and 1,864.17. Volume was 2.08 billion shares worth 1.64 billion ringgit. There were 553 decliners and 313 gainers.
Among the actives, Telekom Malaysia plummeted 3.07 percent, while Axiata tumbled 1.28 percent, Genting soared 0.80 percent, Maybank skidded 0.75 percent, Astro Malaysia Holdings slid 0.50 percent, Public Bank dropped 0.42 percent, Petronas Chemicals climbed 0.36 percent, Tenaga Nasional shed 0.25 percent, Digi.com gained 0.22 percent, CIMB Group collected 0.14 percent and Genting Malaysia, YTL Corporation, IHH Healthcare and Sime Darby were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks moved sharply lower on Monday following the long holiday weekend as the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 hit their lowest closing levels in almost two months.
