KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia remained slightly in the red at midday despite the release of third-quarter economic data that showed better-than-expected growth.
At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 3.81 points to 1,460.87, with investors remaining at the sidelines following Bank Negara's announcement that Malaysia's gross domestic product grew 3.3% in the recent quarter.
PETRONAS Chemicals dragged on the market after losing 12 sen to RM7.21 while IOI shaved seven sen to RM3.95, Hong Leong Bank dropped 20 sen to RM19.12 and Dialog fell six ssen to RM2.14.
Among market laggards, Redtone Digital was down seven sen to 71 sen and MPI slid 48 sen to RM26.52.
Top actives included Hong Seng down 0.5 sen to 3.5 sen, Widad unchanged at 46 sen and Eden up 1.5 sen to 24 sen.
In regional markets, equities retreated on the back of US economic data that showed a slowing economy and boosted bonds.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.1% to 33,464 and South Korea's Kospi fell 0.8% to 2,468.
China's composite index dropped 0.2% to 3,046 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slumped 2.2% to 17,445.
