Little Movement Expected For Malaysia Shares

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had risen more than 20 points or 1.2 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,750-point plateau and it may spin its wheels again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the release of U.S. employment data later today. The European and U.S. markets finished mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KLCI finished slightly lower on Tuesday following weakness from the industrials and mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms.

For the day, the index slipped 3.76 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 1,747.54 after trading between 1,745.16 and 1,761.57. Among the actives, 99 Speed Mart Retail plummeted 4.58 percent, while AMMB Holdings dropped 0.91 percent, Axiata surged 8.68 percent, Celcomdigi dipped 0.31 percent, Gamuda soared 3.47 percent, IHH Healthcare tanked 1.90 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rallied 1.22 percent, Maxis surrendered 1.54 percent, Maybank slipped 0.50 percent, MRDIY fell 0.55 percent, Nestle Malaysia added 0.36 percent, Petronas Chemicals declined 1.21 percent, Petronas Dagangan plunged 2.12 percent, Petronas Gas sank 0.86 percent, PPB Group slumped 1.08 percent, Public Bank collected 0.59 percent, QL Resources stumbled 1.67 percent, RHB Bank shed 0.73 percent, Sime Darby retreated 1.35 percent, SD Guthrie slid 0.34 percent, Sunway lost 0.69 percent, Telekom Malaysia eased 0.12 percent, YTL Corporation and Tenaga Nasional both skidded 0.99 percent, YTL Power tumbled 1.61 percent and Press Metal, IOI Corporation, CIMB Group and MISC were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday, hugged both sides of the line all day and then finished little changed.

The Dow rose 52.27 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 50,188.14, while the NASDAQ slumped 136.20 points or 0.59 percent to end at 23,102.47 and the S&P 500 sank 23.01 points or 0.33 percent to close at 6,941.81.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

The report, which was delayed due to the brief government shutdown last week, is expected to show employment climbed by 70,000 jobs in January after rising by 50,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.4 percent.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in December. A separate report from the Labor Department showed import prices in the U.S. crept up in line with estimates in December.

Crude oil prices ticked lower on Tuesday ahead of the U.S. jobs data. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $0.12 of 0.19 percent to $64.24 per barrel.