The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 20 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,495-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Tuesday.
The global forecast is mixed to lower, with crude oil prices and covid concerns expected to weigh on sentiment. The European were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The KLCI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the glove makers and mixed performances from the financials and plantations.
For the day, the index dipped 1.60 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 1,493.00 after trading between 1,486.23 and 1,499.74. Volume was 3.429 billion shares worth 2.380 billion ringgit. There were 594 decliners and 440 gainers.
Among the actives, Sime Darby Plantations plummeted 2.94 percent, while Dialog Group plunged 1.82 percent, Petronas Gas soared 1.57 percent, Top Glove tanked 1.51 percent, IHH Healthcare spiked 1.42 percent, Petronas Dagangan rallied 1.09 percent, Genting tumbled 1.06 percent, MISC skidded 1.04 percent, RHB Capital jumped 0.98 percent, Digi.com climbed 0.96 percent, MRDIY retreated 0.86 percent, Press Metal perked 0.83 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gathered 0.76 percent, Genting Malaysia declined 0.72 percent, Axiata sank 0.54 percent, Maxis advanced 0.47 percent, CIMB Group collected 0.45 percent, Public Bank and Maybank both fell 0.25 percent, PPB Group added 0.22 percent, Telekom Malaysia gained 0.17 percent, Hartalega Holdings dipped 0.14 percent, Petronas Chemicals rose 0.12 percent, Tenaga Nasional eased 0.10 percent and IOI Corporation, Hap Seng and Sime Darby were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened firmly higher on Monday but faded as the session progressed - finally ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow shed 97.31 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 34,838.16, while the NASDAQ rose 8.39 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,681.07 and the S&P 500 fell 8.10 points or 0.18 percent to close at 4,387.16.
The early strength on Wall Street reflected optimism about the outlook for the economy amid indications the Federal Reserve is not in a hurry to begin scaling back stimulus.
Positive sentiment may also have been generated after a bipartisan group of Senators unveiled a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure package.
However, buying interest waned after the Institute for Supply Management noted an unexpected slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing activity in July. Also, the Commerce Department said construction spending crept up by less than expected in June.
Crude oil prices fell sharply Monday due to rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid a surge in the delta variant of the coronavirus in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September plunged $2.69 or 3.6 percent at $71.26 a barrel.
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