KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI fell, erasing the previous day's gains as the market remained in the grip of a consolidation phase in the absence of domestic catalysts.
Bursa Malaysia moved in the tandem with the regional trend, with investors taking profit ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting that will decide on the US interest rate.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 6.18 points to 1,612.2 amid a broadly market.
Across the board, there were 700 declining issues compared to 210 advancing, giving the market a negative ratio of 3.33-to-1. Volume was 2.47 billion shares changing hands for RM1.38bil.
Only the REIT sector managed to stay positive amid the cross-sector decline. Financial services, plantations and technology were each down about a third of a percent, while healthcare slumped 1.5% and property dropped 0.6%.
On the market, notable decliners included Nestle, falling RM1.30 to RM105.30, Time dotcom sliding 11 sne to RM4.70 and PGF Capital falling 10 sen to RM1.65.
Perak Transit rallied 3.5 sen to 37 sen after private equity firm Censuria Capital took up a strategic stake in the group.
ACE Market debutant Powertechnic erased its earlier gains, returning to its initial public offering price of 40 sen a share after an initial rally that saw it rise to as much as 40.5 sen.
Meanwhile, caution prevailed in Asian markets despite Wall Street's record overnight performance as US equities prices are driven higher by the promise of bumper earnings in the tech sector.
Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.45 to 50,308 a reaffirmation of ties US President Donald Trump and newly appointed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi
In China, the Shanghai composite index was up 0.21% to 4,005 while the CSI300 gained 0.22% to 4,726. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flat at 26,437.
