KUALA LUMPUR: Most key Asian markets except for China closed markedly lower on Friday as the impact of the Covid-19 continued to batter investor sentiment while the virus continued to spread.
At 5pm, the KLCI was down 3.78 points or 0.25% to 1,531.20. Turnover was 2.73 billion shares valued at RM2.13bil. The broader market was weaker with decliners edging out advancers 439 to 391 while 423 counters were unchanged.
US light crude oil fell 43 cents to US$53.45 and Brent was down 56 cents to US$58.75 on weakening demand from air travel and industries in the world's second largest economy China.
Petronas Chemicals fell 10 sen to RM6.45 and erased 1.42 points from the KLCI, Petronas Dagangan eight sen to RM22 and Petronas Gas two sen to RM16.46 while Dialog lost three sen to RM3.38. LNG carrier MISC fell 11 sen to RM7.69.
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