Regional markets fall, ringgit lowest since October

KUALA LUMPUR: Key regional markets fell in the morning session on
Monday, with the key indices down between 1% and 3.45% while the FBM
KLCI fell below 1,560 as tepid US job growth in May and euro zone
worries weighed on sentiment.
Commodities fell including crude oil and crude palm oil futures while Asian currencies also weakened against the US dollar.
The ringgit fell to as slow as 3,2972 to the US dollar earlier before it recovered to 3,1997 at midday.
At
12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 14.64 points or 0.93% to 1,558.95.
Turnover was 336.19 million shares valued at RM414.76mil. Losers beat
gainers 576 to 73 while 151 counters were unchanged.
Among the
key regional markets, Taiwan's Taiex was the worst hit, down 3.45% to
6,860.77; Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 2.14% to 8,259.66; Hong Kong's Hang
Seng Index 2.37% to 18,119.01; Shanghai's Composite Index 1.78% to
2,331.25; South Korea's Kospi 2.92% to 1,780.88 and Singapore's Straits
Times Index 1.42% to 2,706.62.
Reuters also reported most emerging Asian currencies slipped on Monday, with the ringgit hitting an eight-month low.
It
said there was little respite for investors in emerging Asian
currencies, which have slid over the past month on fears that Greece
may exit the euro zone and worries that Spain may need external aid to
shore up its ailing banking sector. US light crude oil fell US$1.44 to
US$81.79 and Brent US$1.23 to US$97.20 while spot gold lost US$2.55 to
US$1,621.45.
Crude palm oil futures for third month delivery fell RM55 to RM2,951 noon, lowest since Nov 2, 2011
At Bursa Malaysia, the weak CPO prices saw IOI falling 18 sen to RM5.01, dragging the KLCI down 2.73 points to RM5.01, KLK fe;; 42 sen to RM21.82, PPB 38 sen to RM15.92, United Plantations 30 sen to RM24 and Sarawak Oil Palms 25 sen to RM6.04.
Maybank
fell 11 sen to RM8.58, dragging the KLCI down 11 sen to RM8.58, Genting
14 sen to RM9.86, PetChem and Gentig Malaysia 12 sen each to RM6.54 and
RM3.57.
OSK-CA was the most active with 18.77 million units done, down one sen to three sen. OSK lost eight sen to RM1.42.
PacificMas
hit limit-up earlier, up 99 sen to RM4.29 on its dividend pay-out while
BAT added 48 sen to RM54.48 and Muda 9.5 sen to 95.5 sen