KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market tumbled over morning trade as investors took profit ahead of the release of key US inflation data tonight.
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At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 5.15 points to 1,427.48.
There were 400 decliners compared with 280 gainers. Trading volume was 1.68 billion shares valued at RM819.77mil.
Leading the decline was CelcomDigi dropping seven sen to RM4.38 and Press Metal falling 10 sen to RM4.90.
Financial services counters also declined investors continued to pare holdings following a rally sparked by Bank Negara’s surprise interest rate hike last week.
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Maybank slid three sen to RM8.72, Public bank dipped one sen to RM4.01, CIMB shed six sen to RM5.05, Hong Leong Bank dropped 12 sen to RM20.10 and RHB lost four sen to RM5.51.
Among actives, Bahvest was down three sen to 10.5 sen while Jade Marvel was unchanged at 27.5 sen and Top Glove fell one sen to RM1.08.
Regional stock prices fell on Wednesday amid fears a higher-than-expected inflation showing in April will reinforce the case for further interest rate hikes at the Federal Reserve’s next open market committee meeting.
China was the worst-performing among the key Asian markets with its benchmark index sliding 1.4% to 3,310.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.5% to 29,087, South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.3% to 2,503 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.7% to 19,723. – The Star