KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI fell on Monday as a fresh bout of fears over inflation data shrank the risk appetite for equities.
At 12.30pm, the key index was down 5.36 points to 1,537.03, with the negative performance underpinned by broad selling in blue chips.
Overall, the market was leaning into the red with 503 decliners against 415 gainers and 443 counters unchanged.
The trading volume was 2.14 billion shares valued at RM1.4bil.
Malaysia's consumer price index for February 2024 was released at midday, showing that domestic inflation had spiked higher by 1.8%, an increase from 1.5% in January.
The increase in the cost of consumer goods topped the upper forecast range of economists surveyed by Reuters, which had predicted a 1.4-1.7% increase in the CPI.
Meanwhile, foreign inflows to Bursa Malaysia could also be drying up ahead of the US Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) report on Friday, a key inflation print that would be a strong indicator of the direction of the Federal Reserve's next interest rate move.
In regional markets, China stocks rallied after the People's Bank of China set a firmer fix for the currency, which helped steady it against the US dollar.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4% to 3,061 while the blue-chip CSI300 also rose 0.4% to 3,558.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.5% to 16,578.
Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.6% to 40,635 as investors backed away from Friday's record-setting close in light of the upcoming global inflation data.
On Bursa Malaysia, blue chips that led the retreat included CIMB down five sen to RM6.50, CelcomDigi falling 11 sen to RM4.29, Tenaga Nasional sliding six sen to RM11.50 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong dipping 20 sne to RM22.20.
Top actives included Sapura Energy
flat at 4.5 sen, Velesto up one sen to 29.5 sen and TWL gaining 0.5 sen to three sen.
