KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian stock prices fell sharply in mid-morning trade in line with ongoing softness in global equities markets as investors anticipate the release of US economic data that will offer more clues as to the US Federal Reserve's next rate decision.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 4.18 points to 1,433.94, while the the overall market showed a nearly even spread of 363 decliners to 338 gainers.
Trading volume was 1.54 billion shares exchanging hands for RM850.01mil.
The performance of key regional markets was also soft as investors sold down equities to their lowest in over 11 months.
Alongside growing nerves over the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, investors are also looking ahead to the release of the US' third-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday as well as the Fed's neeting on Oct 31 and Nov 1.
For the technology sector, the release of high-profile corporate earnings - Microsoft, Meta, Platforms and Amazon - is expected to move prices.
In regional markets, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.7% to 30,774 while South Korea's Kospi was down 0.15% to 2,353.
Following the slump in the previous session, China's composite index bounced 0.4% to 2,950 on bargain-hunting activities, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.7% to 17,059.
On Bursa Malaysia, most blue-chip counters remains in the red with Press Metal
and bank stocks leading the retreat.
Press Metal dropped nine sen to RM4.77 while Maybank shed three sen to RM9.86, Public Bank slipped one sen to RM4.15, CIMB fell three sen to RM5.63 and Hong Leong Bank lost four sen to RM19.40.
Top actives included, Widad down seven sen to 46.5 sen, Metronic sliding 0.5 sen to 1.5 sen and Revenue up two sen to 23 sen.
