The Malaysia stock market has finished lower in six straight sessions, slumping more than 20 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now sits just beneath the 1,590-point plateau and it\'s poised to stop the bleeding on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with continued profit taking among technology stocks likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The KLCI finished barely lower on Monday following mixed performances from the financial shares, plantation stocks and telecoms.
For the day, the index dipped 0.71 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 1,589.66 after trading between 1,582.78 and 1,594.09.
Among the actives, Celcomdigi retreated 1.11 percent, while CIMB Group tumbled 1.62 percent, Genting gained 0.42 percent, Genting Malaysia tanked 1.92 percent, IHH Healthcare spiked 1.94 percent, IOI Corporation added 0.54 percent, Kuala Lumpur Kepong declined 1.06 percent, Maxis advanced 0.85 percent, Maybank perked 0.20 percent, MISC sank 0.35 percent, MRDIY slumped 0.52 percent, Petronas Chemicals rallied 1.70 percent, PPB Group jumped 1.82 percent, Press Metal soared 2.28 percent, Public Bank collected 0.75 percent, QL Resources was up 0.16 percent, Sime Darby rose 0.39 percent, Telekom Malaysia gathered 0.30 percent, YTL Corporation plunged 3.91 percent, YTL Power plummeted 3.94 percent and RHB Capital, Tenaga Nasional, SD Guthrie and Axiata were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street continues to be a dichotomy as the major averages opened mixed and finished the same way, with only the Dow finishing in the green.
The Dow rallied 260.88 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 39,411.21, while the NASDAQ tumbled 192.54 points or 1.09 percent to close at 17,496.82 and the S&P 500 fell 16.75 points or 0.31 percent to end at 5,447.87.
The weakness on Wall Street came as technology stocks dragged the markets lower, with Nvidia Corporation, Dell Technologies and QualComm all plummeting on profit taking.
Traders also were looking ahead to Friday\'s Commerce Department\'s report on personal income and spending in May, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.
Oil prices gained Monday on optimism about the outlook for demand and likely supply disruptions due to tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August rose $0.90 or 1.1 percent at $81.63 a barrel.