KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's equities market saw broad-based selling and a sharp decline in the benchmark index with 633 counters caught on the backfoot.

       At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI retreated 10.61 points to 1,540.83, its lowest level in 10 days as an absence of positive leads coupled with worrying Chinese manufacturing data sapped appetite for equities.

       During the first half of the day, a total of 2.7 billion shares changed hands for a value of RM1.61bil.

       Out of the 30 blue chips listed on the FBM KLCI, 21 were losers, especially banks.

       CIMB dropped 11 sen to RM6.35, Hong Leong Bank slid 14 sen to RM19.58, AmBank fell six sen to RM4.28, Public Bank gave up five sen to RM4.35 and Maybank lost five sen to RM9.48.

       Genting gave up seven sen to M4.70 and Genting Malaysia dropped six sen to RM2.81.

       Meanwhile, Nestle slid RM2.10 to RM122.8.

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       Leading the actives, Borneo Oil was unchanged at one sen, HM rose 0.5 sen to 15 sen and Velesto was flat at 28.5 sen.

       In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei scaled to a fresh record after jumping 1.8% to 39,866.

       China's markets were higher despite a report that showed the country's factory activity had contracted for a fifth consecutive month.

       The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1% to 3,017 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.75% to 16,636.