Bursa Malaysia closed in the red during the midday break due to selling activity mainly in the plantation and real estate counters.
At 12.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down 1.61 points (0.1%) to 1,602.65 compared to 1,604.26 at Thursday's close.
The main index opened slightly higher at 1,608.88 and it moved between 1,601.01 and 1,612.31 in this morning's trading session.
Broad market sentiment was negative with losers leading gainers by 791 to 299. Meanwhile, 380 counters were unchanged.
The trading volume was 3.15 billion units of shares worth RM2.16 billion.
Twelve of the 13 market sectors are in the red, with the financial services sector the only one to gain.
In Asian markets, investors chose to remain cautious as the important economic data of the US Personal Consumer Expenditure Index (PCE) became the next impetus for the Fed to set the next interest rate.
Meanwhile, major gainers such as Allianz Malaysia Bhd gained 30 sen to RM22.24 and Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd gained 20 sen to RM127.80.
In addition, Petronas Dagangan Bhd fell 22 sen to RM19.20 and Guan Chong Bhd fell 23 sen to RM4.07.
