Malaysia Bourse May Test Support At 1,700 Points

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, slipping almost 25 points or 1.4 percent in that span. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just above the 1,725-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on continued concerns over the conflict in the Middle East and on the outlook got interest rates. 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 slightly lower on Tuesday following weakness from the telecoms and mixed performances from the financial shares, plantations and industrials.

For the day, the index eased 0.44 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 1,727.27 after trading between 1,726.13 and 1,734.32. Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail surged 3.96 percent, while AMMB Holdings increased 0.62 percent, Axiata plummeted 4.09 percent, Celcomdigi fell 0.31 percent, CIMB Group gained 0.51 percent, Gamuda rallied 1.82 percent, IHH Healthcare dropped 0.55 percent, IOI Corporation dipped 0.25 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong jumped 1.78 percent, Maxis declined 1.10 percent, MRDIY retreated 1.14 percent, Nestle Malaysia and PPB Group both lost 0.38 percent, Petronas Chemicals tumbled 1.57 percent, Petronas Dagangan tanked 1.74 percent, Petronas Gas slumped 0.67 percent, Press Metal perked 0.11 percent, Public Bank contracted 0.83 percent, QL Resources spiked 1.94 percent, RHB Bank collected 0.36 percent, Sime Darby expanded 1.40 percent, SD Guthrie sank 0.50 percent, Sunway rose 0.18 percent, Telekom Malaysia shed 0.40 percent, Tenaga Nasional added 0.55 percent, YTL Corporation strengthened 1.42 percent, YTL Power vaulted 1.48 percent and Maybank and MISC were unchanged.

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

The Dow slumped 322.24 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 49,363.88, while the NASDAQ tumbled 220.03 points or 0.84 percent to close at 25,870.71 and the S&P 500 sank 49.44 points or 0.67 percent to end at 7,353.61.

The weakness on Wall Street came amid an extended surge by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note jumping to its highest levels since January 2025.

Concerns about elevated crude oil prices leading to a sustained acceleration in the pace of inflation continued to drive yields higher and increase the possibility of an interest rate hike.

Crude oil prices took a breather on Tuesday following news the U.S. is halting its planned attacks on Iran, although the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. West Texas Intermediate crude for June was down $0.07 or 0.1 percent at $108.59 per barrel.

Closer to home, Malaysia will release April numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In March, imports were up 10.4 percent on year and exports rose an annual 8.3 percent for a trade surplus of MYR24.60 billion.