KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia took a step back on Monday as the latest US jobs reports all but eliminated hopes of a US rate cut in March.
On Friday, the US non-farms payroll posted its highest reading in a year, which showed a robust economy despite the elevated interest rates.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 2.47 points to 1,514.11. There were 530 decliners on the broader market compared to 356 decliners and 411 unchanged.
The trading volume was 1.9 billion shares changing hands for RM1.01bil.
Among the blue chips, YTL Power dropped 20 sen to RM2.74, PETRONAS Chemicals slid five sen to RM6.73 and Hong Leong Bank lost four sen to RM19.20.
Top actives were Fintec unchanged at 0.5 sen, MRCB down 1.5 sen to 60 sen and Reneuco slipping 0.5 sen to 9.5 sen.
In Asian markets, China's equities continued to slide despite Beijing's pledge to stabilise markets, which observers say lacked key details.
The Shanghai composite index dove 1.8% to 2,680 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.15% to 15,510.
Japan's Nikkei was up 0.6% to 36,363 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 1% to 2,589.
