FBM KLCI sinks firmly below 1,700 as selling pressure accelerates

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI made a decisive break below the 1,700 psychological level in the morning session as traders fled equities amid rising oil prices and US Treasury yields.

At 12.30pm, the key index was down 17.18 points to 1,688.34, with sharp declines in key heavyweights.

All but five of the 30 constituent stocks were in the red. RHB Bank dropped 13 sen to RM8, AmBank lost 21 sen to RM6.63 , IHH fell 29 sen to RM7.60, Tenaga Nasional slid 12 sen to RM13.60 and Press Metal shed seven sen to RM7.79.

Over the broader market, declining issues more than doubled advancing by a ratio of 723 to 339. Trading volume was 2.08 billion shares valued at RM1.4bil.

The construction sector dropped 1.37%, financial services fell 1.02%, property shed 0.89% and utilities slipped 0.23%

The energy index was up 0.69%, tracking the jump in Brent crude price past US$107 a barrel.

Glove shares rallied amid the broader market selldown as traders grew hopeful on higher product selling prices.

Top Glove was the day's top active share, rising four sen to 80.5 sen on 143.65 million shares done. Hartalega rose eight sen to RM1.19 while Kossan Rubber gained three sen to RM1.22.

The Malaysian market was not sinking alone, as regional markets were a sea of red following the recent surge in oil prices.

Japan's Nikkei fell 2.17% to 63,856, South Korea's Kospi dropped 2.31% to 6,871 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.85% to 24,742.

China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.82% to 3,862 while the CSI 300 slipped 1.59% to 4,476.