The Malaysian stock market on Monday ended the four-day winning streak in which it had risen more than 20 points or 1.3 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index finished just below the 1,540-point plateau, and now traders are anticipating little movement for the market at the opening of trade on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little guidance - particularly since the U.S. and U.K. markets were closed on holiday, although the Canadian market provides some momentum following a positive GDP report. Commodities figure to ease slightly following last week's rebound. The European markets finished slightly lower on Monday, and the Asian bourses are likely to follow suit.
The KLCI finished modestly lower on Monday as investors locked in gains following the recent winning streak. Support from the industrials limited falls among the plantation stocks and financials.
For the day, the index shed 5.85 points or 0.38 percent to finish at the daily low of 1,542.84 after peaking at 1,550.07. Volume was 681.366 million shares worth 1.241 billion ringgit. There were 518 decliners and 242 gainers, with 272 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Maybank, CIMB Holdings, Genting and KNM all finished lower, while CME was unchanged and Sime Darby ended higher.
Wall Street was off for Memorial Day, but European stocks failed to sustain modest early gains on Monday, finishing a choppy session with a slightly loss. Volumes remained thin owing to a holiday in the U.K.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of Eurozone blue chippers was down 0.18 percent. The German DAX was down 0.04 percent, the CAC 40 index lost 0.21 percent and Switzerland's SMI shed 0.29 percent. The UK market is closed for the spring holiday.
Utilities RWE and E.ON were down notably after reports said the country would close its nuclear reactors by 2022, following the quake and the related events in Japan that led to the damage of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. Solar power companies Vestas and Renewable Energy rallied on the news.
Fiat rose 1.3 percent after announcing that it will exercise an option to buy the United States Department of Treasury's 6 percent stake in Chrysler Group LLC in the next 10 days.
In Paris, machinery maker Alstom rose 1.3 percent. The company announced a contract worth 665 million euros with the Polish operator PKP Intercity to supply 20 high speed trains, their maintenance up to 17 years and the construction of a new maintenance depot.
Drug maker Sanofi-Aventis announced a three-year research collaboration agreement with Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative or DNDi, an independent, not-for-profit product development partnership. Sanofi added 0.11 percent.
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