Malaysia and regional equity markets in the red

The research house said this was largely because the FBM KLCI has generally yielded positive returns in the three-month periods up to the past election polling dates, apart from robust headline economic indicators which support the ringgit and investment sentiment. The GE14 is widely expected to be held in March or April next year.

PETALING JAYA: It was a sea of red for equity markets across the region after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point to a range of 1.75% to 2% on Wednesday, and funds continued to move their money back to the US. This is the second time the Fed has raised interest rates this year.

In general, markets weren’t down by much, probably because the rate hike had mostly been anticipated. Furthermore for Asia, the withdrawal of funds has been taking place over the last 11 weeks, hence, the pace of selling was slowing.