KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI returned below 1,630 mark after it shed all the gains made in the early session and entered negative territory.
At midday, the benchmark index was down 3.9 points to 1,625.92 just a fraction off its intraday low after hitting a high of 1,633.97 earlier in the day.
The domestic market was red across sectors, weighed down by 680 decliners compared to 382 gainers. The share turnover was 2.81 billion crossing hands for RM1.69bil.
Asian markets, including Bursa Malaysia, have retreated after investors considered the potential impact of another Donald Trump presidency on already sour US-China relations.
On the local market, the financial services sector was among the worst hit, with banking heavyweights weighing on the index.
CIMB dropped three sen to RM7.15, Hong Leong Bank slid 22 sen to RM19.08, Maybank fell two sen to RM10.12 and RHB shed two sen to RM5.67.
In utilities, Tenaga Nasional lost four sen to RM14.44, YTL Power dropped four sen to RM4.89, YTL Corp fell five sen to RM3.65 and PETRONAS Gas slumped 22 sen to RM18.14.
On the broader market, top actives were XOX down 0.5 sen to one sen, Bintai Kinden
sliding 2.5 sen to 14 sen and MLab climbing five sen to 25.5 sen.
Meanwhile, Asian stock bellwethers in the red included China's composite index down 0.21% to 2,967 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng sliding 1.37% to 17,769.
Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.26% to 3,490.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.31% to 41,318.
