KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI remained in the red at midday as worries over the rising Covid-19 infections in China compounded the negative sentiment already brought on by the Russia-Ukraine war and the US Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes.

       At 12.30pm, the benchmark index was up down 7.17 points to 1,560.27 while market breadth was overwhelmingly negative with 609 decliners compared to 215 gainers.

       Petronas Chemicals slumped 35 sen to RM9.24 amid an ongoing retreat in crude oil prices.

       Brent crude prices dove over 4% to US$102.54 a barrel as investors speculated that Covid lockdowns in China would dampened demand.

       Press Metal also dropped 22 sen while to RM6.06 on falling aluminium prices.

       Meanwhile, most bank counters remained firm with Maybank rising six sen to RM6.98, Public Bank gaining three sen to RM4.47 and CIMB rising four sen to RM5.11.

       The technology sector tracked the Nasdaq lower with MPI falling RM1.30 to RM29.80, Vitrox shedding 29 sen to RM5.18 and D&O dropping 11 sen to RM3.84.

       Among the top actives, Pasukhas was unchanged at two sen, Hibiscus dropped six sen to RM1.05 and Bumi Armada dropped 2.5 sne to 37.5 sen.

       In major Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.4% and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.6%. China's composite index slumped 2.2% amid ongoing Covid fears while Hong Kong's Hang Seng dove 3%.

       In Australia, the ASX200 was down 0.7%.