KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI erased nearly all its gains from the previous session as global investment sentiment turned jittery overnight.
The European Commission sharply cut its forecasts on eurozone economic growth even as US President Donald Trump said he would not meet his Chinese counterpart before the March 1 deadline to cut a trade deal.
At 12.30pm, the local benchmark index was down 8.44 points to 1,684.95. Trading volume was 1.06 billion shares valued at RM610.9mil. There were 356 decliners versus 258 advancers and 305 counters unchanged.
The index has been trapped in range-bound trading over recent weeks as investors await more concrete developments over the US-China trade situation and global growth.
The region turned similarly bearish. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.5%, Japan's Nikkei fell 1.8% and South Korea's Kospi slid 1.1%. China's markets remained shuttered for its week-long holiday.
Oil markets also suffered a slide in investor confidence as worries over weakening demand grew. US crude fell 46 cents to US$52.18 a barrel and Brent crude dropped 46 cents to US$61.17 a barrel.
Among KLCI-linked equities, Axiata faced selling pressure on reports it had been ordered by Nepal's Supreme Court to pay a capital gains tax amounting to RM2.16bil.
The tax bill was linked to its purchase of Reynolds Holdings Ltd, the 80% stakeholder of mobile operator Ncell Pte Ltd. The telco slipped 19 sen to RM3.71.
Tenaga Nasional slid 24 sen to RM13.18, IOI fell eight sen to RM4.57 and MISC lost 11 sen to RM6.85.
Most active counters on Bursa Malaysia were Bumi Armada
trading unchanged at 22.5 sen, Sapura Energy gaining 0.5 sen to 27 sen and KNM adding 0.5 sen to nine sen.
On the forex market, the ringgit was flat against the US dollar at 4.0718. It was little changed against the Singapore dollar at 3.0016 and down 0.25% against the pound sterling at 5.2719.
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