KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI remained in the red at midday as bank counters continued to lead the market lower amid weak investor sentiment as anxieties grow over the US Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and asset tapering plans.

       Exacerbating the uncertainty was worries that Russia was planning an invasion of Ukraine after the former's military was seen gathering at the border.

       At 12.30pm, the benchmark index was down 4.28 points to 1,522.78.

       Among the blue chips, Maybank was down six sne to RM8.22, CIMB shed six sen to RM5.24, Hong Leong Bank dropped four sen to RM19.16 and RHB slid 12 sen to RM5.60.

       Public Bank was unchanged at RM4.18.

       On the technology index however, some bargain-hunting was seen in MPI up RM1.78 to RM39.80, KESM adding 18 sen to RM10.86 and UWC climbing 18 sen to RM4.53.

       Top actives were DNeX down 2.5 sen to 96 sen, Coraza up 12.5 sen to 78.5 sen and TWL shedding 0.5 sen to six sen.

       The broader market was negative with 584 decliners to 310 gainers.

       Asian markets meanwhile continued to fall as investors braced for the Fed's move to mop up some of the liquidity from the market.

       Japan's Nikkei was down 0.1%, South Korea's Kospi slid 1.5% while China's benchmark index rose 0.2%.

       Hong Kong's Hang Seng however dropped 1% while Australia's ASX200 lost 0.4%.