Malaysia Stock Market May Extend Losing Streak

The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 30 points or 2 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,575-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on economic growth concerns and coronavirus fears. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The KLCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financials and mixed performances from the plantations, industrials and telecoms.

For the day, the index shed 12.25 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 1,573.31after trading between 1,572.11 and 1,599.53. Volume was 9.280 billion shares worth 4.144 billion ringgit. There were 782 decliners and 249 gainers.

Among the actives, Hartalega Holdings plummeted 2.82 percent, while Top Glove plunged 2.57 percent, Axiata tanked 1.76 percent, PPB Group tumbled 1.72 percent, IHH Healthcare skidded 1.66 percent, Malaysia Airports Holdings jumped 1.21 percent, Maybank sank 1.14 percent, RHB Capital retreated 0.99 percent, Public Bank declined 0.97 percent, Dialog Group surrendered 0.77 percent, Petronas Chemicals climbed 0.49 percent, Sime Darby dropped 0.47 percent, Digi.com advanced 0.46 percent, AMMB Holdings added 0.42 percent, Genting Malaysia shed 0.40 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong lost 0.35 percent, Genting fell 0.24 percent, IOI Corporation slid 0.22 percent, Press Metal dipped 0.21 percent, Sime Darby Plantations and Maxis both gained 0.19 percent, MISC eased 0.13 percent and CIMB Group and Tenaga Nasional were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks opened in the red on Thursday and remained there throughout the session.

The Dow shed 135.39 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 26,734.71, while the NASDAQ lost 76.66 points or 0.73 percent to end at 10,473.83 and the S&P 500 fell 10.99 points or 0.34 percent to close at 3,215.57.

The weakness on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing the decline in first-time claims for unemployment benefits nearly ground to a halt last week.

The negative sentiment was partly offset by a Commerce Department report showing another substantial increase in retail sales in June, although the data was seen as old news as some states rolled back their reopening plans due to a surge in coronavirus cases.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday on worries about the outlook for near term energy demand after OPEC decided to start tapering production cuts beginning next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August were down $0.45 or 1.1 percent at $40.75 a barrel.