Ahead of Tuesday's holiday, the Malaysia stock market had climbed higher in four straight sessions - advancing almost 25 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just above the 1,710-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak thanks to disappointing earnings news, plummeting crude oil prices and trade concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.
The KLCI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the financials were tempered by weakness from the telecoms.
For the day, the index added 4.33 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 1,710.71 after trading between 1,698.51 and 1,712.97. Volume was 1.6 billion shares worth 1.6 billion ringgit. There were 428 decliners and 365 gainers.
Among the actives, Telekom Malaysia plummeted 5.04 percent, while Dialog Group plunged 1.82 percent, Public Bank surged 1.54 percent, IHH Healthcare soared 1.48 percent, CIMB Group spiked 1.42 percent, IOI Corporation tumbled 1.37 percent, Petronas Chemicals skidded 0.96 percent, Genting dropped 0.57 percent, Genting Malaysia shed 0.55 percent, Maybank collected 0.53 percent, Sime Darby advanced 0.42 percent, Axiata added 0.29 percent, Tenaga Nasional fell 0.27 percent and Petronas Gas and Digi.com were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is brutal as stocks showed another significant move to the downside on Tuesday, sending the tech-heavy NASDAQ to its lowest closing level in over seven months.
The Dow plunged 551.80 points or 2.21 percent to 24,465.64, while the NASDAQ shed 119.65 points or 1.70 percent to 6,908.82 and the S&P 500 fell 48.84 points or 1.82 percent to 2,641.89.
The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected disappointing earnings news from companies such as Target (TGT), Kohl's (KSS) and Victoria's Secret parent L Brands (LB). A continued decline by Apple (AAPL) also weighed on the markets.
On the U.S. economic front, a report from the Commerce Department showed housing starts rebounded in October, although the report also showed a decrease in building permits.
Oil prices plunged sharply on Tuesday as rising concerns about the global economic outlook outweighed optimism of production cuts by OPEC and allies. Crude oil futures for January ended down $3.77 or 6.6 percent at $53.43 a barrel, the lowest settlement price in 13 months.
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