KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 4): The FBM KLCI breached the 1,600-level mark again as the market worries of a further depletion of Bank Negara Malaysia's international reserves and weaker oil prices ahead.

As at 5pm today, the benchmark index fell 13.59 points or 0.85% to settle at 1,589.16 points.

Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew told theedgemarkets.com that there is still room for crude oil prices to fall moving forward, particularly if the US congress pass the Iran nuclear deal.

“There are still room for the oil price to fall if the Iran sanction ends. That would pressure the KLCI index further, and likely to head back into the 1,500 points direction,” he said.

Pong pointed out that the market’s concern over a slower China economy also weighted the index’s performance.

Across the market, there were 452 counters lost today, outrun 324 gainers, while 298 stocks unchanged. Total volume traded today was 1.85 billion, worth RM1.58 billion.

The top gainer was Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, while Batu Kawan Bhd was the top loser today.

The most actively traded counter today was IFCA MSC Bhd, which saw 91.21 million shares changed hands.

Across the region, Japan’s Nikkei lost 2.15%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.45%, while South Korea’s Kospi declined by 1.54%.

Reuters reported that Asian shares extended losses on Friday as caution over a US jobs report overshadowed signals from the European Central Bank that it is willing to take further steps to shore up the European economy.

In currency markets, the ringgit weakened to 4.2600 against the US dollar and compared to the Singapore dollar, the ringgit depreciated above 3.0082 again.