KUALA LUMPUR: The selling on Bursa Malaysia showed no sign of abating as investors rushed to take money out of equities in light of the mounting headwinds.

       At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 17.84 points to 1,438.9. The decliners on the market outweighed the gainers 735 to 130.

       Trading volume was 1.6 billion shares, crossing hands for a value of RM911.46mil.

       Asian markets were in retreat as investors anticipated further commitment by the US Federal Reserve to fight inflation.

       Japan's Nikkei was down 1.2%, South Korea's Kospi fell 2.3% and China's composite index was flat.

       Hong Kong's Hang Seng however was up a slight 0.2% while Australia's ASX200 fell 0.5%.

       On the home market, Maybank led the fall after slumping 21 sen to RM8.67.

       Public Bank dropped four sen to RM4.45, CIMB slid three sen to RM4.89 and Hong Leong Bank fell 32 sen to RM20.68.

       MISC also fell sharply by 32 sen to RM7.07 and Tenaga Nasional lost 15 sen to RM8.15 while Sime Darby Plantation dropped 10 sen to RM4.36.

       ACE Market debutant SFP Tech was a rare sight as it soared 36 sen to 66 sen as the most actively trade counter with 237.4 million shares traded.

       DNex fell 5.5 sen to 75.5 sen and Cypark dipped two sen to RM36 sen.