KUALA LUMPUR (March 2): Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd topped FBM KLCI decliners after falling some 4% in morning trades today followed by Genting Bhd as the KLCI dropped with global shares amid Covid-19 outbreak concerns.

A strengthening ringgit against a weakening US dollar is also seen affecting sentiment on Malaysian shares.

At 9:31am, Petronas Chemicals' share price fell 22 sen or 4.07% to RM5.18 while Genting declined 19 sen or 3.84% to RM4.76. On the broader market, the 30-stock KLCI was down 22.13 points or 1.49% to 1,460.51.

In currency markets, the ringgit strengthened to 4.2025 against the US dollar at the time of writing. For Petronas Chemicals, which sells its products in US dollars, a stronger ringgit is deemed bad for the company as its US dollar-based revenue will be less in ringgit terms.

"A confluence of risks (for the US dollar) are amalgamating: US Primaries are on Tuesday, dovish Fed communication, and deteriorating US macro data suggest you don't want to own a boatload of dollars," AxiCorp chief market strategist Stephen Innes wrote in a report today.

"Market sentiment has pivoted noticeably from viewing the coronavirus outbreak as more of a China/Asia-centric issue that will ultimately be followed by a V-shaped recovery, to now seeing it as a global outbreak that will result in a protracted drag on growth. Small open economies like Malaysia, however, could continue to struggle from the lingering effect of China's demand, disruptions in the supply chain linkages, and of course, tourism.

"The latter (tourism) [has] lost revenue to the hospitality industry, a critical sector that will have an extended recovery period due to an abysmal earnings outlook for 2020 will have a lasting negative impact," Innes said.