KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): The FBM KLCI finished 0.24% lower today, as broader market sentiment was weighed down by the tech sell-off on Wall Street, and weaker regional performance. 

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was down 3.79 points to finish at 1,577.75. Market breadth was negative, with 906 decliners against 316 gainers, while 394 closed unchanged. 

Some 9.79 billion shares worth RM6.91 billion crossed today, compared with 10.44 billion shares traded worth RM6.63 billion yesterday. 

Remisier Jeffry Azizi Jaafar told theedgemarkets.com that the KLCI’s close in red territory today was partly due to profit-taking activities emerging on local tech stocks as investors took their cues from the overnight tumble of the Nasdaq due to the tech sell-off there.

Among the indices, the Bursa Malaysia Technology Index fell the most in percentage terms, slipping 2.19% to 88.87. Yesterday, the index jumped 5.48% to 90.86.

Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd topped the list of top decliners (by value), as it slumped RM1 or 2.63% to RM37,  followed by KESM Industries Bhd (down 48 sen or 3.02% to RM15.42) and UWC Bhd (down 32 sen or 4.73% to RM6.45). 

Blue-chips stocks that dragged the FBM KLCI included Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, DiGi.Com Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Top Glove Corp Bhd. 

Notable gainers included Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd,  Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, PPB Group Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd. 

The actively traded stocks included Dagang NeXchange Bhd, XOX Bhd, ManagePay Systems Bhd, Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd and MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd.

Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 3.99%, while South Korea's Kospi plunged 2.8%. In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 3.64%, while the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index closed down 2.12%.

Bloomberg reported Asian stocks fell the most since March as losses in technology shares deepened amid a global sell-off triggered by rising Treasury yields.

“Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), Samsung Electronics Co and Tencent Holdings Ltd contributed the most to losses in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which dropped as much as 3.2%. A gauge of the region’s technology stocks tumbled more than 4%, also the most since March,” the report noted. 

It added that today’s sell-off marked a sharp turnaround for equities which rallied for the most of January and February, pushing the Asian benchmark to a fresh record high. Equity benchmarks in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan slumped more than 3% each today.