Malaysia’s benchmark stock index has formed a “dead cross” pattern, a bearish indicator that signals further losses for the market.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index dropped 0.3 percent to 1,304.16 yesterday, sliding for a fifth day, the longest losing streak since a six-day decline through Jan. 29. The 10-day moving average fell below the 40-day moving average for the first time since Feb. 4, creating the dead cross, Khoo Ban Yu, RHB’s technical chartist, said in an interview. A short-term moving average falling below a longer-term one points to a market retreat.

As the Chinese government continues to implement measures to deflate the asset bubble that has developed in its property and stock market, we expect to see commodity prices go lower.

While the long-term outlook for most hard commodities looks very promising, the short-term impact of the Chinese austerity measures should not be underestimated.

From the start of the crisis, Sterling has lost 25% of its trade-weighted value. Various factors such as investor apprehension, rising debt levels, frailty in the banking sector, weak fiscal policies and a heavy dependence on global capital inflows have increased the risk of holding Sterling.

Investor confidence is fluctuating, we have seen sharp sell-offs in March and there has been uncertainty of the UK government in the run up to the election.

Due to a computer glitch on US trading systems, the Dow Jones experienced a drop of over 1000 points yesterday. As yet there is no clear indication as to what caused the glitch however the NASDAQ has already said it will cancel all trades from yesterday. The glitch happened at 2.40pm New York time. Despite the fact that the market quickly returned to its previous level, this had an effect of spooking Wall Street investors. Coming at the same time as the UK General Election and the Greek debt crisis, the effect has been to depress world equity and commodity markets.