The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, although it has eased just three points or 0.2 percent in that span. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index remains just above the 1,530-point plateau and it's likely to take further damage again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian is soft thanks to sinking oil prices and expected profit taking. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The KLCI finished barely lower again on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and mixed performances from the plantation stocks.
For the day, the index eased 0.73 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 1,531.63 after trading between 1,530.75 and 1,536.47. Volume was 6.755 billion shares worth 3.654 billion ringgit. There were 580 gainers and 417 decliners.
Among the actives, CIMB Group and Hong Leong Bank both shed 0.43 percent, while Dialog Group spiked 1.39 percent, Digi.com plummeted 2.62 percent, Hartalega Holdings climbed 0.71 percent, IHH Healthcare tanked 1.07 percent, IOI Corporation jumped 1.07 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong advanced 0.70 percent, Maybank lost 0.37 percent, Maxis slid 0.23 percent, MISC tumbled 0.59 percent, MRDIY soared 2.22 percent, Petronas Chemicals slipped 0.12 percent, PPB Group was down 0.11 percent, Press Metal surged 4.73 percent, Public Bank skidded 0.49 percent, Sime Darby added 0.46 percent, Sime Darby Plantations plunged 1.25 percent, Telekom Malaysia eased 0.16 percent, Tenaga Nasional dipped 0.21 percent, Top Glove fell 0.25 percent and Genting, Genting Malaysia, Hap Seng Consolidated, RHB Capital and Axiata were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the Dow and S&P 500 both opened lower Tuesday and stayed that way, while the NASDAQ was in and out of negative territory but finally finished slightly higher.
The Dow sank 208.98 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 34,577.37, while the NASDAQ added 24.32 points or 0.17 percent to end at 14,663.64 and the S&P fell 8.80 points or 0.20 percent to close at 4,343.54.
The pullback by the Dow and the S&P 500 was partly due to profit taking after the advance seen last Friday lifted all three major averages to new record closing highs.
Optimism about the economic outlook helped support the markets, although traders remain somewhat concerned about the outlook for monetary policy.
Negative sentiment may also have been generated by a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing its reading on service sector activity pulled back off a record high in June.
Crude oil futures settled sharply lower Tuesday as prices plunged after hitting a near seven-year high amid uncertainty about the major oil producers' production policy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $1.79 or 2.4 percent at $73.37 a barrel.
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