KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 26): The FBM KLCI closed 11.22 points or 0.67% down today, spooked by sharp selling pressure across US shares during Christmas Eve on Monday amid unnerving US political developments and world economic growth concerns.

Crude oil's price drop also hit Malaysian shares, which resumed trading today after markets were closed yesterday for the Christmas holiday. Today, the KLCI closed at 1,672.6 at 5pm after falling to its intraday low at 1,660.8.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said weakness in Malaysian share trade today was also due to a general sell down across Asian stock markets after sharp selling pressure across Wall Street on Christmas Eve.

In the US on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 653.17 points or 2.91 percent to close at 21,792.2, the S&P 500 fell 65.52 points or 2.71 percent to 2,351.1 while the Nasdaq Composite declined 140.08 points or 2.21 percent to 6,192.92.

Reuters reported that the S&P 500 tumbled to the brink of a bear market on Monday as US stocks extended their steep sell-off in a pre-holiday shortened session, with investors rattled by the US Treasury secretary's convening of a crisis group and by other political developments.

It was reported that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called top US bankers on Sunday amid the pullback in stocks and said he was calling a meeting of financial regulators to discuss ways to ensure "normal market operations." It was reported that investors also were grappling with the Federal government shutdown and reports that President Donald Trump privately discussed the possibility of firing the Federal Reserve chairman.

Across Asian stock markets today, South Korea's Kospi closed down 1.31% while the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite fell 0.26%. Hong Kong markets remained closed today in conjunction with the Christmas holidays.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 however rose 0.89% today after falling 5.01% yesterday.  Reuters reported that the Nikkei 225 retreated to a 20-month low on Tuesday after a slide on Wall Street deepened with a series of unnerving US political developments. It was reported that the Nikkei share average ended the day down 5.01 percent at 19,155.74 after brushing 19,117.96, its lowest since late April 2017.

In Malaysia today, Leong told theedgemarkets.com: “Other factors (affecting the stock market) include the effect of oil prices on Petronas-linked companies such as Petronas Gas Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd."

Petronas Gas shares closed down 40 sen at RM18.78 while Petronas Dagangan fell 30 sen to RM26.20 after world crude oil prices dropped more than 6% on Monday.

Today, Bloomberg reported that Brent crude fell as much as 1.1% to US$49.93 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was reported that the global benchmark slid below US$50 for the first time since July 2017.