KUALA LUMPUR: Concerns mounted on Wednesday as US treasury yields touched 3%, driving Asian equity markets lower on Wednesday.
Bursa Malaysia was not spared the selldown and the benchmark FBM KLCI dove a further 14.39 points in the morning session to rest a fraction of a point above a key psychological level at 1,850.95.
Trading volume on the market was thin at 951.79 million shares with a value of RM750.94mil. There was a broad-based decline with 644 counters sliding versus 138 rising and 286 stocks unchanged.
"We expect US 10-year yields to reach 3.10% with a high of 3.40%, and the consolidating path at around the 3.10% and 3.20% levels should there be a meaningful sell-off in risk assets like what happened in the early February equity rout," said Ambank Group head of research Anthony Dass.
At 12.30pm, stocks on the FBM KLCI were overwhelmingly lower. Nestle led the declines, shaving 2.48 points off the index as it fell RM6.50 to RM141.
Public Bank also weighed, dropping 20 sen to RM23.90 while Petronas Chemicals slipped nine sen to RM8.40 and Genting Malaysia slid 12 sen to RM4.90.
Hong Leong Bank fell 22 sen to RM18.86, Tenaga Nasional dropped eight sen to RM15.80 and Maybank lost four sen to RM10.58.
PPB was the only stock to put in a positive performance, gaining six sen to RM19.16.
On the broader market, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia rose after announcing an improved first quarter earnings result, adding 11 sen to RM3.37.
Globetronics followed suit, rising nine sen to RM4.04 while Genting Plantation put on 12 sen to RM9.93.
Moving lower, Top Glove lost 35 sen to RM9.10, Allianz gave up 38 sen to RM11.52 and Unisem fell 38 sen to RM1.84.
Oil prices were little changed from their three-year highs on Wednesday. WTI crude slipped two cents to US$67.68 a barrel while Brent crude was unchanged at US$73.68 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit continued to slip against a rising greenback, giving up 0.12% to 3.9095. It also weakened 0.23% against the pound sterling at 5.4609 but moved up slightly against the Singapore dollar at 2.9503.
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