KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia remained under pressure on Friday after a dismal performance in September wiped out over half of the gains made in the previous month.

       Ongoing anxieties over interest rates in major developed economies and regulatory impact in China's markets continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

       Overnight, the US stock exchange wrapped its worst month this year as the proposal to raise the debt ceiling and a change in tax legislation dampened the mood.

       "Given the weak sentiment on Wall Street, we expect the consolidation phase to persist for the near term," said Malacca Securities Research.

       At 9.25am, the FBM KLCI was down 5.33 points to 1,532.47. Market breadth was negative with the number of decliners nearly double that of the gainers.

       Petronas Chemicals retreated 11 sen to RM8.59 as investors continued to take profit off the rally earlier this week.

       Bank stocks were also seen drifting lower on caution ahead of the start of the interest waiver on the B50 loan moratorium. CIMB was down six sen to RM4.72, Hong Leong Bank dropped eigth sen to RM18.82 and Public Bank was down one sen to RM4.06. Maybank was unchanged at RM8.05.

       Telcos were also subdued, led by Digi down eight sen to RM4.37, Axiata falling one sne to RM3.90 and Maxis sliding four sen to RM4.65.

       Press Metal meanwhile shed six sen to RM5.68 while MISC declined six sen to RM6.85.

       Among top actives, Sapura Energy was down 0.5 sen to 11 sen, NWP was flat at 26.5 sen and Serba Dinamik slid one sen to 31 sen.