KUALA LUMPUR (March 31): The FBM KLCI closed down 35.68 points or 2.22% at 1,573.51 today, while the number of Bursa Malaysia decliners rose past 850, as share trade volume topped eight billion securities as world shares took cue from the US government bond yield surge and a strengthening US dollar, before US President Joe Biden's announcement on a multi-trillion-dollar plan to rebuild America's infrastructure.

It was reported today that 10-year US Treasury yields rose as high as 1.746% from Tuesday's 1.708% and were last at 1.723%. In theory, higher bond yields lead to expectation of higher interest rates which are bad for stock markets.

"A possible reason for the more bearish sentiment today could be on account of US bond yields rising, which could possibly account for investors selling off equities and moving into bonds,” Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Loui Low told theedgemarkets.com today.

Across Bursa today, there were 858 decliners versus 303 gainers, compared with yesterday’s 649 decliners against 414 gainers.

Today, Bursa’s securities trade volume rose to 8.36 billion units valued at RM4.22 billion, from Tuesday’s 5.78 billion securities valued at RM3.59 billion. 

At a glance today, selling across Bursa was broad-based after 28 of the 29 indices closed lower, except for the Property index. 

Worst hit was the FBM Hijrah Shariah index after the gauge – which tracks prices of Islamic-compliant shares – closed down 2.25%, while the Property index finished up 0.14%.

Among notable stocks, Bursa top decliners included KLCI constituents Petronas Gas Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd, besides rubber glove manufacturers Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Top Glove Corp Bhd.

Petronas Gas’ share price closed down 34 sen or 2.08% at RM16, while Top Glove fell 26 sen or 5.44% to RM4.52.

Most-active was Berjaya Corp Bhd shares, followed by the company’s warrants. Berjaya Corp shares registered a trading volume of about 577 million units, while its warrants saw some 333 million units changing hands.

Berjaya Corp’s share price closed up six sen or 15.19% at 45.5 sen today, while the company’s warrants rose 2.5 sen or 23.81% to 13 sen.

World share indices fell today as investors were looking ahead to Biden's trip to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, where he is expected to push for a "Build Back Better" plan. It was reported that its price tag could be as high as US$4 trillion to pay for conventional roads and bridges, while also tackling climate change and domestic policy issues like income equality.

It was reported that MSCI's All Country World Index, which tracks stocks across 49 countries, traded 0.1% lower, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan fell 0.3%, its first monthly loss in five months.

“In foreign-exchange markets, currencies were lower against the US dollar. The dollar hit a one-year high of 110.48 against the yen, as investors bet fiscal stimulus and aggressive vaccinations would boost the US economic recovery,” Reuters reported.

"The dollar is on track for a third straight monthly rise against the yen and its biggest since the end of 2016. The dollar index held above 93, after surging as high as 93.357 on Tuesday. It has climbed from close to 90 at the start of March, on course for its best month since 2016,” Reuters reported.