FX.co ★ Malaysia Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Tuesday

The Malaysian stock market experienced another downturn on Monday, continuing a trend that saw it lose over 10 points last week. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index is now hovering just below the 1,550-point mark, indicating another potentially weak start on Tuesday.

Global forecasts suggest a wary outlook for Asian markets in light of upcoming economic data. While European markets have shown mixed results, US markets experienced a drop, suggesting Asian markets may follow suit. On Monday, the KLCI saw a slight decrease, influenced by varied performances in finance, plantation stocks, and telecoms. The day ended with the index down 1.51 points or 0.10 percent, closing at 1,547.60.

Among the stocks in question, AMMB Holdings saw a drop of 0.92 percent, while Axiata experienced a slump of 1.08 percent. On the positive side, Celcomdigi rose by 1.17 percent, and CIMB Group increased by 0.31 percent. However, other companies like Dialog Group and Inari Amertron experienced significant losses, plunging 4.48 percent and tanking 4.24 percent respectively.

The influence from Wall Street was weak, with only slight increases at Monday's open, which quickly turned to losses. The Dow lost 62.30 points or 0.16 percent, closing at 39,069.23, while the NASDAQ dropped 20.57 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 15,976.25. Similarly, the S&P 500 fell 19.27 points or 0.38 percent, ending at 5,069.53.

Investors seem reluctant to make bold moves as they assess the recent gains, which pushed the Dow and S&P 500 to record highs last week. Traders are also treading carefully ahead of significant inflation reports expected this week from Germany, France, Spain, as well as the US.

The US Commerce Department reported a rebound in new home sales for January, although the figures came in below expectations.

In commodities, oil prices recovered from early losses on Monday, growing on concerns about supply disruptions due to continued aggression by Houthi militants in the Red Sea. Consequently, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $1.09 or 1.4 percent, finishing at $77.58 a barrel.