KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market edged lower as investors eyed with caution the upcoming US payrolls report.
At the lunch break, the FBM KLCI was down 2.34 points to 1,614.41 after trading within a narrow range of less than three points with a high of 1,616.26 and low of 1,613.37.
On the broader market, there were a total of 2.5 billion shares traded for a value of RM1.38bil.
Of the market sectors, financial services and healthcare were the most negative, while the only positive sectors were consumer, industrial and REITs
Blue chips weighing on the FBM KLCI included YTL Power down seven sen to RM5.25, Hong Leong Bank falling six sen to RM19.20 and Maybank sliding four sen to RM10.06.
Toyo Ventures continued to see strong selling pressure on news its power plant project in Vietnam had been scrapped, plunging 19 sen to 87 sen.
Apollo dropped 15 sen to RM6.65 and Salutica dove 13 sen to 55 sen.
Of actives Nova MSC rose three sen to 26 sen, SNS Network gained 4.5 sen to 93 sen and Velesto
was down one sen to 27 sen.
Meanwhile, regional markets lost an early lead to enter negative territory as investors took profit ahead of the weekend.
China's composite index fell 0.9% to 2,929 while Japan's Nikkei was down 0.1% to 40,888.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.1% to 17,832 and Singapore's Straits Time index slid 0.7% to 3,415.
