KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market started on an uncertain footing following the sharp sell-off on Wall Street overnight as comments by the Federal Reserve triggered a fresh bout of fears over more aggressive interest rate hikes.

       At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI was down 1.42 points to 1,596.9, capping the benchmark index below the 1,600-point psychological resistance.

       Despite strong negative sentiment in more developed markets, foreign funds have been supportive of Bursa Malaysia given its defensive nature amid the geopolitical turmoil in Europe and domestic developments.

       "A sharp selloff may be cushioned by Malaysia’s relative safe-haven appeal amid the geopolitical conflict; transition to endemicity; and possible pre-election rally (3-6 months ahead of the polling dates) based on past GE12/13/14 trends," said RHB Research in a morning brief.

       On the blue-chip index, bank stocks remained resilient with Maybank rising two sen to RM8.90 although CIMB shed two sen to RM5.15.

       MISC dropped four sen to RM7.77, Petronas Gas slid six sen to RM16.84 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell four sen to RM28.24.

       Press Metal declined nine sen to RM6.50 and Nestle slipped 20 sen to RM132.60.

       Tech counters fell with MPI sliding 50 sen to RM32, D&O dropping 13 sen to RM4.07 and Kobay losing 13 sen to RM3.74.

       Top actives were Iris unchanged at 18 sen, Widad up 0.5 sen to 37 sen and Ta Win unchanged at 16 sen.