KUALA LUMPUR: The global selloff continued on Monday as weak economic data plagued major markets the US, China and Japan.
The trade tensions between Washington and Beijing also weighed on investors' minds as an escalating argument over Huawei sought to derail any potential progress in trade talks.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI fell 15.59 points to 1,664.95, taking the index to a five-month low.
Turnover was slight given the bearish sentiment, to the tune of 1.39 billion shares valued at RM586.34mil. Decliners overwhelmed advancers 549 to 131 while 281 counters were unchanged.
On the benchmark index, 23 stocks were in the red with four advancing and three unchanged.
New KCLI entrant was plaqued with allegations over the weekend that its manufacture of latex goves violated workers' rights. The stock dropped 29 sen or 4.92% to RM5.61 in the morning sessions.
Sime Darby Plantation
was a top decliner on the index, falling 22 sen to RM4.47 while Tenaga Nasional slid 16 sen to RM13.54.
The few advancing counters were IHH gaining one sen to RM5.37, Hartalega rising one sen to RM6.126, Nestle gaining RM1.20 to RM145.70 and Petronas Dagangan climbing 16 sen to RM16.84.
On the wider market, Prestariang fell 7.5 sen or 16.5% to a multi-year low of 37 sen as the government confirmed the cancellation of the immigration control system (SKIN) concession.
Opec gave Brent crude prices a boost as the participating members agreed on reducing output 1.2 million barrels a day. Brent rose 34 cents to US$61.01 a barrel.
WTI crude, however, was down six cents to US$52.55 as the US was not a part of the supply cuts.
In currencies, the ringgit slid 0.1% against the US dollar to 4.1710. It fell marginally against the pound sterling at 5.3153 and the Singapore dollar at 3.0445.
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