KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended higher on Tuesday, outperforming most regional markets as investors continued to rotate towards commodity and plantation-related stocks, an analyst said. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.47 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 1,733.36 compared with Monday’s close of 1,725.89. The benchmark index opened 1.63 points higher at 1,727.52, and fluctuated between 1,723.60 and 1,734.53 throughout the day. On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 762 to 438, while 576 counters were unchanged, 1,075 untraded and 16 suspended. Turnover expanded to 3.74 billion units valued at RM2.91 billion from 3.45 billion units valued at RM2.74 billion on Monday.
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| Wall Street Update |
Stocks closed sharply lower Tuesday as renewed declines in oil prices weighed amid mixed reaction to some key earnings reports.
Here is a quick look at some of the updates on the commodity price in the Energy sector.
"The oil rally, which occurred around those rumors (about an output cut), has reversed and dragged down the stock market and long-term interest rates," said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds.
U.S. crude oil futures settled down $1.74, or 5.5 percent, at $29.88 a barrel, weighed by concerns about demand and rising supply, as hopes for a deal between OPEC and Russia on output cuts diminished.
The Dow lost 295 points. Goldman Sachs accounted for about 55 points the index as the greatest weight on the Dow. As of intraday trade, financials were the worst performer year-to-date in the S&P 500. The index fell below the psychologically key 1,900 level in afternoon trade.
The Nasdaq composite underperformed, falling more than 2 percent as Apple, biotechs and several major tech stocks declined.
Alphabet, Google's parent company, halved gains in afternoon trade to hold about 1.6 percent higher. Facebook gave up gains and held about half a percent lower. Amazon traded down more than 3.5 percent.
The Dow transports declined more than 2.5 percent, with Avis Budget and American Airlines leading decliners. UPS was the only advancer.
Shares of Exxon Mobil briefly declined 2.5 percent after the firm reported a 58 percent drop in profit, hurt by low oil prices. The world's largest publicly traded oil company also said it would cut spending this year by one-quarter, Reuters reported.
The S&P 500 lost nearly 2 percent as energy fell more than 3 percent and financials lost more than 2.5 percent in afternoon trade, with only utilities gaining.
So how bad will this affect Bursa Malaysia? My guess is another red of sea especially given the likelihood of pundit clearing of energy counters....
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