KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia fell further below the 1,400-point support-turned-resistance as weak factory data coming out of China raised concerns over the strength of the economic recovery.
Asian markets are poised for a second month of losses after data showed the Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers' index contracted at a faster pace than expected to 48.2 in May on weakening demand.
Compounding the negative sentiment was worries hardline US Republicans could derail a bipartisan deal aimed at lifting the debt ceiling during a House vote scheduled for Wednesday.
At 12.30pm, Malaysia's benchmark FBM KLCI was down 3.63 points to 1,393.28. The market breadth remained negative with 453 decliners compared with 295 gainers.
Trading volume was 1.61 billion shares valued at RM1.01bil.
Telcos led the sell-off on Bursa as CelcomDigi dropped 11 sen to RM4.46 while Maxis shed nine sen to RM4.18.
Plantation counters were also underwater with IOI falling 11 sen to RM3.80, Kuala Lumpur Kepong losing 44 sen to RM21.20 and Sime Darby Plantation
sliding two sen to RM4.24.
Meanwhile, technology stocks on the domestic market rallied on the back of the Nasdaq's strong performance overnight as shares in leading chipmaker Nvidia soared 3% on the back of a strong demand outlook.
Bursa Malaysia's technology index rose 0.9% to 60.02, its highest in four weeks. Leading sector players included MPI up 18 sen to RM27.08, Inari rising five sen to RM2.51, Unsem adding three sen to RM3.02 and KESM adding 10 sen to RM7.02.
Making its debut on the Main Market today, Radium remained submerged following a weak opening. The share, which was the most actively traded on Bursa, was down 11.5 sen to 38.5 sen on the back of 191.98 million units traded.
Other top actives were MYEG up five sen to 84 sen, and YTL rising 4.5 sen to 95.5 sen.
In regional markets, Japan's Nikkei dove 1.6% to 30,832 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.1% to 2,582.
China's composite index fell 0.7% to 3,200 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 2.25% lower at 18,178.
