KUALA LUMPUR: It was a punishing early session for Bursa Malaysia as global equities sank amid a surge in oil prices above the US$150 a barrel mark.
The benchmark FBM KLCI fell 25.8 points or 1.5% to 1,686.85, slipping below the 1,700-point psychological support that had restrained declines over the last three weeks.
Falling issues outnumbered advancing 880-to-322, reflecting the broader market retreat. Volume jumped to 2.26 billion shares, transacted for RM2.2bil amid the accelerated selling.
The worst-hit sector was financial services, which plunged 2.66% as prospects for growth sank on fears the energy crisis could destabilise economies.
Heavyweight banks led the decline, including Maybank falling 24 sen to RM11.22, CIMB dropping 26 sen to RM7.44, Hong Leong Bank falling 32 sen to RM21.98, Public Bank sliding 18 sen to RM4.62 and RHB losing 25 sne to RM8.19.
Energy and plantation counters, however, surged on rising energy costs. Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 98 sen to RM21.10, SD Guthries jumped 37 sen ot RM6.29, PETRONAS Chemicals rose 25 sen to RM6.05 and Tenaga Nasional added six sne ot RM14.16.
Press Metal
extended its rally by 59 sen to RM8.20, a fresh all-time intraday high, after attacks on two of the Middles East's largest aluminium smelters.
Of the most active stocks, Top Glove rallied four sen to 61 sen on 67.92 million shares done. Sunway Healthcare slipped 16 sen to RM2.21 after 55.49 million shares crossed and Zetrix AI rose 0.5 sen to 74 sen with 43.72 million shares transacted.
Across Asia, markets were laid low with Japan's Exchange among the worst impacted. The Nikkei 225 slumped 3.35% to 51,597, having pared decliners from over 5% earlier in the day.
South Korea's Kospi was down 2.95% to 5,278, an improvement over the more than 4% plunge in the early morning session.
In China, the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.23% higher to 3,922 while the CSI300 dipped 0.15% to 4,495.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng shaved 0.9% to 24,727.
Elsewhere, Taiwan's Taiex lost 1.45% to 32,632 while Singapore's Straits Times was flat at 4,899.
