Malaysian shares may edge lower (BT)

MALAYSIAN shares may edge lower today as risk appetites wane ahead of a string of economic data from Singapore to Japan get issued this week and slightly weaker finish on Wall Street.

“The market will pull back although the strength in plantation stocks may balance out some of the weak sentiment,” said an analyst with a local investment bank who picked the country’s top planter Sime Darby as a counter to watch due to its current attractive valuations.

Another analyst said shares of mobile phone operator Axiata could tread much higher in the days to come as the rights issue and weak earnings announced the day before would have been priced in.

The Dow and S&P 500 slipped yesterday as financial shares sank and on disappointing housing data, but the Nasdaq rose as investors snapped up technology shares ahead of results from Hewlett Packard.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 29.23 points, or 0.34 per cent, at 8,474.85. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 1.58 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 908.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 2.18 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 1,734.54. -- Reuters