Market Close KLCI falls 1.8% to intraday low

by **Cals** Thu 13 Jun 2013, 22:18

Market Close KLCI falls 1.8% to intraday low

Business & Markets 2013

Written by Chong Jin Hun of theedgemalaysia.com

Thursday, 13 June 2013 17:16

KUALA LUMPUR (June 13): The FBM KLCI fell as much as 32.25 points or 1.8% to end at its intraday low as concerns on monetary policy direction in the US and Japan triggered a sell-off in Asian equities, fund managers said.

At 5pm, the KLCI settled at 1,742.87 points on losses in stocks like MALAYAN BANKING BHD [] and GENTING BHD [].

"The sell-off was due to concerns on the US and Japan's monetary policy," a fund manager told theedgemalaysia.com over telephone.

Across Bursa Malaysia, 2.13 billion shares worth RM2.8 billion changed hands. There were 142 gainers versus 803 decliners.

The top gainer was United PLANTATION []s Bhd while NESTLE (M) BHD [] led decliners. The most-active stock was ETI Tech Corp Bhd.

Major equity indices across Asia fell. Japan's Nikkei 225 decline 6.35%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.19% while Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.74%.

Reuters reported that MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan tumbled more than 2% to its lowest since September for its biggest daily drop in three weeks when global financial markets were rattled by comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke suggesting the U.S. central bank could tone down its bond-buying stimulus plan if the economy continued to improve.

Around the same time, the Bank of Japan also held off from taking fresh measures after a bold reflationary scheme on April 4, a stance repeated at its meeting last week when the bank decided against fresh steps to quell heightened volatility in domestic bonds that has threatened to undercut its ultra-easy monetary policy.