KUALA LUMPUR: All Asian markets were lower at the midday break on Friday, with the KL Composite Index down more than 1% to more than a week’s low, as Wall Street woes continued to weigh down investors’ sentiment.

Maybank and Tenaga were among the major losers at the midday break.At 12.30pm, the KL Composite Index was down 9.09 points to 890.50 points. Turnover was 167.96 million shares valued at RM228.54 million. There were 85 gainers, 265 losers and 159 counters unchanged.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped 2.47% or 321 points to 12,701.87, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.73% to 7,426.56 points, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index slipped 1.77% to 1,600.55 points. Crude palm oil futures for third-month delivery rose RM19 to RM1,879.

Maybank fell 25 sen to RM5.35, Tenaga 20 sen to RM6.10 while YTL and Batu Kawan lost 15 sen each to RM7 and RM8.10. Also down 15 sen each were Kulim-WB and PetronasGas to RM2.74 and RM9.65.

Compugates continued to see active trade with 15.2 million shares done and it was flat at 16.5 sen. 

MRCB fell  three sen to 87 sen, UEM Land 2.5 sen to 75 sen and Kinsteel 1.5 sen to 40.5 sen. Kian Joo rose 10 sen to RM1.32 with 1.36 million units done while Magna added six sen to RM2.20, MISC, Amway and BCHB were five sen higher to RM8.60. RM7.10 and RM6.55 respectivel.

YTL Power rose four sen to RM1.90. CIMB Equities Research has an outperform on the the stock at RM1.86 with a target price of RM2.39. “We still believe the stock will outperform during these difficult times on the share price triggers of more earnings-enhancing acquisitions financed by its still-sizeable cash hoard of RM7.28 billion,” it said.