KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia saw a follow through selling pressure on Tuesday, pushing the FBM KLCI lower for the third straight session.

       At closing, the benchmark index fell 10.03 points, or 0.64% to 1,5574.41 after moving between an intraday high of 1,566.74 and a low of 1,554.17.

       The broader market sagged, with decliners now overtaking advancers 759 to 234 while 356 counters were unchanged. Turnover was at 2.69 billion shares valued at RM2.5bil.

       Dealers said investors’ nervousness was due to the prospects of the US rate hikes and potential supply chain disruptions due to fresh lockdowns in China. They expect trading on Bursa Malaysia to continue to be cautious.

       In today’s session, 20 of the KLCI-component stocks closed lower while seven counters chalked up gains and three closed unchanged.

       Among the component stocks, Hartalega added eight sen to RM4.71, Tenaga rose six sen to RM9.02, Maybank gained five sen to RM8.97 and Public Bank climbed four sen to RM4.48.

       Nestle shed 90 sen to RM136, PetDag eased 58 sen to RM19.92, Petronas Chemicals lost 39 sen to RM9.20 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 16 sen to RM26.18.

       On the broader market, Bintulu Port rose 30 sen to RM5.20, Complete Logistic gained 25 sen to RM3.30 and Bursa Malaysia added 19 sen to RM6.39.

       PMB Technology tumbled RM1.78 to RM16.28, MPI shed RM1.32 to RM29.78, Heineken fell 72 sen to RM20.66 and F&N lost 68 sen to RM20.32.

       Meanwhile, oil prices extended losses as ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine eased fears of further supply disruptions.

       Brent crude oil eased US$6.17 to US$100.73 a barrel while US crude oil futures fell US$6 to US$97.01 per barrel.

       “Oil prices - front-month Brent crude - are down 26% from last week's intra-week high despite headwinds, including little progress in Ukraine-Russia talks, domestic pressure in Germany to cut imports of energy from Russia and the unconfirmed US reports that China is willing to provide military support to Russia,” SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said.

       “For markets, lower oil prices are a double-edged sword. While it should benefit consumer equity sectors, falling prices in a high volatility environment could curtail risk-taking in other assets,” he added.

       Separately, spot gold fell 0.89% to US$1,933.57 per ounce while spot silver shed 0.25% to US$24.80 an ounce.

       Among the key regional markets:

       Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 0.15% to 25,346.48;

       Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 5.72% to 18,415.08;

       Shanghai Composite Index shed 4.95% to 3,063.96;

       Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.95% to 16,926.06;

       South Korea’s Kospi closed down 0.91% to 2,621.53 and;

       Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.02% to 3,231.42 points.