At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed 1.49 points at 1,891.16, after hovering between 1,887.96 and 1,892.17, throughout the trading day.  

A dealer said Asian stock markets fell for the third day after investors remained cautious ahead of the corporate earnings season and after record highs on Wall Street.

"The just-started US earnings season as well China's second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures, due next week, will help investors determine whether the recent run-up in stock valuations was justified," he added.

The Finance Index rose 33.52 points to 17,431.03 but the Industrial Index slipped 11.38 points to 3,263.84 and the Plantation Index fell 19.94 points to 9,213.85.

The FBM Emas Index dipped 11.19 points to 13,152.5, FBMT100 Index shed 9.98 points to 12,763.31, the FBM 70 declined 10.9 points to 14,420.52 and the FBM Ace erased 35.8 points to 6,748.64.

Market breadth was negative as decliners outpaced advancers 498 to 341, with 308 counters unchanged, 481 untraded and 16 others were suspended.

Total volume declined to 1.78 billion units, worth RM1.99 billion, from Tuesday's 1.79 billion shares worth RM2.29 billion.

Among actives, China Stationery added 1.5 sen to 10 sen, Sumatec Resources declined one sen to 31 sen while Malaysia Airlines and Berjaya Corp eased half-a-sen each to 22.5 sen and 47.5 sen, respectively.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank rose four sen each to RM9.99 and RM20.04, respectively, while TNB slipped two sen to RM12.46 and CIMB fell four sen to RM7.24.

Main Market volume remained unchanged at 1.4 billion units, worth RM1.91 billion, from yesterday's 1.4 billion units worth RM2.21 billion.

Turnover on the ACE market declined to 221.27 million shares, valued at RM47.32 million, from 230.19 million shares, valued at RM50.55 million on Monday.

Warrants depreciated to 84.32 million units worth RM19.13 million, from 110.82 million units, worth RM25.1 million, registered yesterday.

Consumer products accounted for 210.75 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 215.79 million, construction 78.55 million, trade and services 500.78 million, technology 97.55 million, infrastructure 16.74 million, SPAC 68.46 million, finance 58.06 million, hotels 7.48 million, properties 132.83 million, plantations 22.43 million, mining 169,900, REITs 8.33 million and closed/fund 17,100. — Bernama