KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia succumbed to volatility in the early session with 599 stocks registering losses as investors pulled out of the market ahead of a key US economic report.
After a bullish start, the benchmark FBM KLCI gradually lost steam and ended the morning 7.62 points below at 1,657.2. The index had been trading within an 18-point range of 1,653.83 to 1,671.83.
The negative sentiment was seen in loss across the market's sector indices, although the REIT sector managed to keep its head above water.
Trading volume for the first half of the day was 1.2 billion shares valued at RM1.3bil.
Stocks that weighed on the blue-chip index included YTL Power down 19 sen to RM3.50 and YTL Corp, shedding 20 sen to RM2.50, extending losses since it was reported that a subsidiary of the group was being investigated for payment claims related to the RM4bil 1Bestarinet project.
The two YTL counters wers also among the day's most actively traded, reflecting the strong downward pressure on the shares.
Other leading laggards included MISC down 17 sen to RM8.11, Sunway slipping nine sen to RM3.91 and Tenaga Nasional falling eight sen to RM14.74.
In regional markets, Japan's Nikkei was down 0.48% to 36,481 and China's composite index fell 0.23% to 2,782.
Singapore's Straits Times index rose 0.18% to 3,464.
