KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at midday on Friday, mirroring regional peers’ performance, amid worries about an economic slowdown following a batch of not-so-rosy data, mainly from the US and China.

At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI had fallen 3.81 points to 1,460.87, from Thursday’s closing at 1,464.68.

The index opened 3.09 points easier at 1,461.59, and subsequently moved between 1,459.33 and 1,462.31 throughout the morning trading session.

Market breadth was negative, with decliners outpacing gainers at 437 versus 332, while 442 counters were unchanged, 1,179 untraded, and 24 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 1.96 billion units valued at RM856.58 million.

An analyst said US labour market activity is showing signs of slowing down after more Americans filed for jobless claims last week, while China's faltering economic activity data also exacerbated worries about global economic growth.

According to reports on Thursday, US unemployment benefit claims hit a three-month high in the week ended Nov 11, increasing by 13,000 to 231,000 from the previous week.

Nevertheless, the analyst said losses in the KLCI were capped by the announcement on Friday that the domestic economy recorded a growth of 3.3% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023, compared with 2.9% in the previous quarter.

Despite the challenging global environment, Bank Negara Malaysia governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said Malaysia’s economy is expected to expand by around 4% in 2023, and 4% to 5% in 2024.

Unchanged among the heavyweights were Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) at RM9.14, Public Bank Bhd at RM4.24, and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd at RM5.78.

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was 12 sen lower at RM7.21, and Tenaga Nasional Bhd lost two sen to RM9.97.

Of the actives, Hong Seng Consolidated Bhd erased half a sen to 3.5 sen. Widad Group Bhd was flat at 46 sen, while Eden Inc Bhd was 1.5 sen higher at 24 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dropped 22.98 points to 10,805.32, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 22.79 points to 10,468.16, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 28.14 points to 11,005.26, the FBM ACE Index shrank 2.29 points to 5,116.52, and the FBM 70 Index reduced 11.41 points to 14,328.29.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 28.80 points to 16,404.64, the Energy Index slipped 8.03 points to 853.91, the Plantation Index was 18.86 points lower at 6,988.06, and the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 0.72 of a point to 173.72.