KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI tumbled 1.97% to below the 1,400-point mark, the lowest level since October 2022, as fears lingered about contagion from the Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB) collapse.
At 5pm, the market bellwether tanked 28 points, or 1.97% to 1,393.83, its lowest since mid-October 2022. All indices on Bursa Malaysia were down.
In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 878 to 179, with 3.37 billion shares worth RM2.5bil changing hands.
The KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly negative, with 29 losers while one closed unchanged.
Leading laggards among the KLCI component stocks were Nestle falling 70 sen to RM134.90, Hong Leong Bank skidding 26 sen to RM19.96, PETRONAS Dagangan shedding 24 sen to RM20.44 and Press Metal
declining 19 sen to RM4.79.
Maybank closed down 10 sen to RM8.34, Public Bank eased 13 sen to RM3.88, CIMB lost 16 sen to RM5.17, RHB Bank slid 14 sen to RM5.48 and AmBank closed down 14 sen to RM3.73.
On the broader market, Heineken lost 42 sen to RM28.68, Carlsberg fell 30 sen to RM21.60, Computer Forms declined 25 sen to RM1.15 and Ajinomoto eased 24 sen to RM14.66.
Among the gainers, Scientex Packaging added eight sen to RM2.45, Hextar Global rose seven sen to RM2.05 and KKB Engineering gained seven sen to RM1.46.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that most Asian currencies and equities lost ground on Tuesday as the U.S. banking sector crisis unnerved investors, although the ringgit bucked the trend to climb higher.
The ringgit was the top advancer in the region, gaining 0.34% to 4.4790 against the US dollar.
Regional markets closed lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.19% to 27,222.04 while South Korea’s Kospi closed down 2.56% to 2,348.97.
The Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 2.27% to 19,247.96 while the Shanghai Composite was down0.72% to 3,245.31.
