At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 7.29 points or 0.5% lower to 1,425.07 from Tuesday’s close of 1,432.36.
The barometer index opened 0.79 of a point weaker at 1,431.57 and moved between 1,423.05 and 1,431.57 throughout the trading session.
The market breadth was broadly negative as decliners outpaced gainers 597 to 265, while 374 counters were unchanged, 1,062 untraded and 11 others suspended.
Turnover narrowed to 3.14 billion units valued at RM1.76 billion from 3.17 billion units worth RM1.85 billion on Tuesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional markets ended mostly lower as investors were cautiously awaiting earnings reports and possible moves on interest rate hikes by central banks.
“On the domestic front, we expect trading to be muted moving forward,” he told Bernama.
He also foresees the FBM KLCI trending sideways within the range of 1,420-1,430 towards the weekend.
Heavyweights Maybank and Public Bank eased 1 sen to RM8.69 and RM3.97, Petronas Chemicals lost 19 sen to RM7.21, CIMB Bank and CelcomDigi shed 3 sen each to RM5.22 and RM4.43.
Among the actives, Fitters Diversified was unchanged at 5 sen, Pharmaniaga gained 1.5 sen to 39 sen and Vinvest Capital rose 1 sen to 20 sen, while Hong Seng eased half sen to 12.5 sen and MyEG slipped 2 sen to 82 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index weakened 64.68 points to 10,475.80, the FBMT 100 Index lost 62.18 points to 10,160.02 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 83.56 points to 10,806.33.
The FBM ACE Index was 37.12 points weaker at 5,352.59 and the FBM 70 Index dipped 125.95 points to 13,691.12.
Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index eased 2.02 points to 172.37, the plantation index slipped 32.92 points to 6,851.72, the financial services index declined 40.89 points to 15,690.58 and the energy index fell 7.0 points to 860.19.
The Main Market volume widened to 2.12 billion units valued at RM1.45 billion from 2.08 billion units valued at RM1.51 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover rose to 367.83 million units worth RM52.82 million against 277.52 million units worth RM45.34 million previously.
The ACE Market volume shrank to 650.69 million shares worth RM258.92 million versus 804.49 million shares worth RM288.37 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 259.52 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (742.58 million); construction (57.92 million); technology (309.76 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (53.42 million); property (198.06 million); plantation (23.62 million); REITs (11.32 million), closed/fund (33,000); energy (55.99 million); healthcare (203.95 million); telecommunications and media (95.70 million); transportation and logistics (44.55 million); and utilities (59.60 million).