KUALA LUMPUR: Weak sentiment continued to weigh on Bursa Malaysia as the FBM KLCI to its lowest in two years.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI tumbled 19.96 points or 1.39% to 1,420.85, its lowest since May 2020. All Bursa indices also posted losses.
Bursa Malaysia's financial services index fell 18.42 points or 0.11% to 16,065.76 points.
The broader market sagged, with decliners outnumbering advancers 717 to 208 while 388 counters were unchanged.
Dealers said the performance on the local bourse was in sync with the weak regional market sentiment.
Bank Negara, as widely expected, raised the overnight policy rate (OPR) by another 25 basis points (bps) to 2.25% following the conclusion of its monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting today.
The central bank said the ceiling and floor rates of the corridor of the OPR are correspondingly increased to 2.5% and 2% respectively.
Among the banks, Maybank rose one sen to RM8.62, CIMB added five sen to RM5.10, RHB Bank unchanged at RM5.72, Public Bank fell two sen to RM4.39 and Hong Leong Bank lost 24 sen to RM20.38.
DSR Taiko made a strong debut on the LEAP Market of Bursa Malaysia today. The counter closed at RM1.31, up RM1.01, or 336.67%.
Among the losers, Nestle shed RM2 to RM132.10, Kuala Lumpur Kepong tumbled RM1.48 to RM20.02, Batu Kawan fell 82 sen to RM21.98 and Petron Malaysia
lost 71 sen to RM4.77.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was marginally lower at 4.4243 against the US dollar.
Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.22% to 21,586.66, South Korea’s Kospi closed down 2.31% at 2,292.01, China’s CSI300 lost 1.46% to 4,423.97 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended down 1.2% to 26,107.65 points.
