At 9.25am the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was down 4.78 points at 1,496.96 from Thursday's close of 1,501.74.
It opened slightly higher but plunged after that on negative sentiment on Wall Street due to concerns over the Omicron Covid-19 variant.
The index opened 1.92 points at 1,503.66.
On the broader market, investors saw losers outnumber gainers by 373 to 195, while 322 counters were unchanged, 1,386 untraded and 20 suspended.
Total turnover at 543.26 million units worth RM318.09 million.
A note issued by Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said investors were waiting for a change in the hawkish tone from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) regarding its stance on futures trading policy.
In terms of commodities, the price of crude palm oil was at RM4,650 while the price of crude oil was at US $ 73 or RM308.96 per barrel.
Heavyweights saw Top Glove and MISC Bhd lose 11 sen each at RM2.70 and RM6.41, Petronas Gas Bhd fell 12 sen at RM16.46, Hartalega Holdings Bhd declined 17 sen at RM6.01 and Sime Garby Plantation Bhd minus 6 sen at RM3.73.
IHH Healthcare Bhd rose 6 sen to RM6.64 and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) added 3 sen to RM7.98.
Active stocks saw EA Holdings Bhd remain 2 sen, Impiana Hotels Bhd rose 0.5 sen at 9 sen, ATA IMS Bhd added 1 sen at 45.5 sen and VS Industry Bhd added 7 sen at RM1.22.
TH Heavy Engineering Bhd fell 0.5 sen to 1 sen and KNM Group Bhd was flat at 15.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas index declined 28.07 points at 10,910.84, the FBMT 100 index contracted 28.84 points at 10,616.91 and the FBM Emas Shariah index declined 51.66 points at 11,863.24.
FBM 70 declined 18.39 points at 14,111.64 and FBM ACE declined 71.11 points at 6,342.47.
The Products and Services Industry Index declined 0.33 points at 192.84, the Financial Services index rose 23.39 points at 14,999.50 and the Plantation index fell 43.26 points at 6,432.15.
