KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI sank 1.09% to its lowest in two years on persistent selling pressure as investors continued to take flight.
At 5pm, the market bellwether eased 16.03 points, or 1.09% to 1,456.74, its lowest since May 2020. On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the index tumbled 37.21 points.
In the broader market, laggards outnumber gainers 726-to-267. Trading volume was brisk at 3.05 billion shares valued at RM3.02bil.
Dealers said the local bourse is expected to remain volatile amid the lack of fresh new leads or positive catalysts.
Sam Engineering rose 24 sen to RM3.99, Gamuda added 20 sen to RM3.60 and D&O gained 17 sen to RM4.04 and MISC climbed 12 sen to RM7.39.
Nestle tumbled RM8.80 to RM131.20, Petronas Dagangan shed RM1.32 to RM19.82, Aeon Credit lost RM1 to RM13.36 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong eased 64 sen to RM23.40.
Among the banks, Maybank jumped 16 sen to RM8.88, Public Bank declined six sen to RM4.49, CIMB fell 10 sen to RM4.92, RHB Bank added two sen to RM5.88 and Hong Leong Bank rose 16 sen to RM21.
Shares in Top Glove rebounded 3.59%, or 3.5 sen to RM1.01 with 69.93 million shares traded.
Caely lost 7.69%, or three sen to 36 sen amid its boardroom tussle.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.4028 against the greenback, appreciating 0.01%. The local unit opened higher against the US dollar this morning.
The local currency was down 0.85% against the euro at 4.6231. It fell 1.55% against the pound sterling at 5.4227 and fell 0.18% against the Singapore dollar at 3.1768.
Brent crude fell 54 cents, or 0.45%, to US$120.35 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell to US$118.19 per barrel, down 60 cents, or 0.51%.
Among the key regional markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 1.77% to 25,963.00;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.1% to 21,075.00;
Shanghai Composite Index added 0.96% to 3,316.79;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.25% to 15,641.26;
South Korea’s Kospi eased 0.43% to 2,440.93 and;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.02% to 3,098.09 points.