MALAYSIAN shares are expected to open slightly lower today ahead of the government’s announcement of revised economic growth data for this year. GDP in the first quarter contracted by 6.2 per cent from a year ago, the largest fall since the fourth quarter of 1998, and will likely contract by the same amount in the second quarter.
“The market is looking kind of tired at the moment. It will continue to drift over the next couple of days,” said an institutional dealer at a local investment bank. “The economy shrank much more than expected, so I think investors will just take a step back and assess the situation,” he said.
US stocks dropped yesterday as rising yields on US government debt fueled concern that businesses and consumers could face higher borrowing costs, which could hamper an economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 173.47 points (2.05 per cent) to end at 8,300.02. The Nasdaq shed 19.35 points (1.11 per cent) to 1,731.08 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 17.27 point (1.90 per cent) to close at 893.06. -- Reuters