KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia shares remained slightly underwater as the lunch bell rang, reflecting investors' uncertainty over future trading direction.
The FBM KLCI swerved in and out of negative territory to end 1.23 points lower at 1,644.76, with investors lacking motivation to bring the benchmark out of a horizontal trading channel.
On the broader market, there were 560 negative shares compared to 333 positive, with most of the market sector in the red, including construction, plantations and utilities.
The share turnover was 1.94 billion changing hands at RM1.06bil.
Leading laggards included Nestle down 80 sen ot RM103.20, Kuala Lumpur Kepong dropping 30 sen to RM21.08 and Theta Edge diving 12 sen to RM1.49.
HeiTech Padu saw strong profit-taking following the announcement of its highly anticipated government contract win, slumping 18 sen to RM4.16.
Of actives, Cape EMS rose 1.5 sen to 34.5 sen, Globetronics climbed 6.5 sen to 68 sen and Sarawak Cable gained 5.5 sen to 13 sen.
Elsewhere, there was a mixed performance in Asian markets, as investors turned cautious in the lead up to the Nov 5 US presidential election.
China's composite index was up 0.82% to 3,288 following the reduction of its benchmark lending rate, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.55% to 20,689.
Japan's Nikkei gained 0.25% to 39,080 while Singapore's Straits Times index slid 0.45% to 3,623.
