KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was broadly lower in morning trade as investors brace for corporate earnings and economic data to be released over the coming weeks.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 1.08 points to 1,423.19, with declines in heavyweights Maybank and Press Metal capping the upside on the blue-chip index.

On the broader market, the decliners outnumbered gainers 441 to 295. Trading volume was 1.45 billion shares valued at RM729.12mil.

Press Metal shed 14 sen to RM5.06, Maybank lost eight sen to RM8.62 and Maxis was down four sen to RM4.30.

Ahead of its results announcement, Nestle rose RM1.30 to RM135.90.

Technology stocks were on the backfoot following the Nasdaq’s retreat overnight as investors awaited the results of Microsoft, while Tesla’s spending plans triggered selling activity.

Bursa Malaysia’s technology index remained little changed at 61.6 but was expected to stay weak coming off four straight days of losses.

Frontken dropped four sen to RM3.07, Unisem shed six sen to RM3 and Pentamaster fell 14 sen to RM4.75.

Among actives, Jade Marvel was up one sen to 28.5 sen, Salute surged 16 sen to 97.5 sen and Fitters was unchanged at five sen.

Meanwhile, regional markets were mostly in the red.

Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.22% to 28,657, South Korea’s Kospi slid 1.8% to 2,479 and China’s composite index slipped 0.3% to 3,264.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slumped 1.6% to 19,635.