KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was not spared the bloodshed in global markets as fears mounted over the Turkish financial crisis.
At noon, Japan's Nikkei was down 2.2%, the Shanghai Composite Index down 1.37% and Kospi down 1.8%.
The Turkish Lira, which has last about half of its value since September 2017, plummeted as the White House doubled steel and aluminium tariffs on the nation even as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steadfastedly refused to raise interest rates in what he claims is an "economic war" against foreign interests.
The Lira's plunge to a new record low dragged down other emerging market currencies, including the ringgit, which slipped 0.2% against the greenback at 4.0935.
At current trading levels, the ringgit is trading at December 2017 highs, having erased all the gains it had made in the first quarter of this year.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI slid 20.48 points to 1,785.27. Trading volume was 1.12 billion shares valued at RM954.13mil. Counters were overwhelmingly negative with 679 losers versus 158 gainers and 315 unchanged.
IHH tumbled 38 sen to RM5.37 as the stock continued to pull back on news that takeover target Fortis Healthcare is negotiating for a higher open offer price.
Tenaga Nasional lost 22 sen to RM15.56, while Maxis fell 12 sen to RM5.67 and Digi slid 12 sen to RM4.58.
Bank stocks were on the backfoot, with Maybank losing three sen to RM9.86, Public Bank dropping eight sen to RM24.32, CIMB sliding four sen to RM5.89, Hong Leong Bank falling 20 sen to RM19.04 and RHB trimming 13 sen to RM5.35.
Two plantation counters were the only gainers on the 30-stock index. PPB rose six sen to RM16.84 and KL Kepong added two sen to RM24.72.
On the broader market, Edaran soared 21.5 sen or 47.5% to 67 sen while F&N rose 20 sen to RM37.94 and Revenue jumped 7.5 sen to RM1.05.
On the losing end, KESM slid 40 sen to RM17.50, Hengyuan gave up 22 sen to RM7.33 and Carlsberg lost 22 sen to RM19.22.
A softer outlook for demand dented oil markets on Monday even as US sanctions against Iran suggested tighter supply moving forward. WTI crude slipped nine cents US$67.54 a barrel while Brent dropped 25 cents to US$72.56 a barrel.
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