Bursa Malaysia was down slightly at midday, weighed down by selling activity in selected heavyweights, led by consumer products and services and financial services stocks.
At 3.30pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was at 1,502.48, down 0.80 points from Tuesday’s close of 1,503.25.
The benchmark index opened 3.85 points higher at 1,507.10, then moved between 1,501.11 and 1,507.47 throughout the morning trading session.
The broader market was negative as losers outnumbered gainers 490 to 327, while 390 counters were unchanged, 1,138 were untraded and 25 were suspended.
Total trading volume amounted to 1.48 billion units worth RM832.22 million.
The market is now watching the latest information on US President Donald Trump's tariffs, including an increase in tariffs to 50% on steel and aluminium effective from June 4.
The report indicated that the industry is set to spend heavily on products made from these materials, which will trigger price increases, especially for basic products.
Meanwhile, Maybank Investment Bank said investors' focus has shifted towards more resilient sectors amid widespread weakness in the market.
Among heavyweights, PPB fell 26 sen to RM10.92, Sime Darby fell 3.0 sen to RM1.70, RHB Bank fell 9.0 sen to RM6.39, QL Resources fell 6.0 sen to RM4.34, and MR DIY fell 2.0 sen to RM1.57.
For active stocks, TWL gained half a sen to 2.5 sen and Tanco rose 1.0 sen to RM1.01, while Bintai and NexG were unchanged at 7.5 sen and 37.5 sen respectively, and Reservoir Link Energy gained half a sen to 35.5 sen.
