KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia remained soft over the course of morning trading as investors moved to the sidelines ahead of 3Q corporate earnings results while energy counters pared recent share price gains on subsiding crude prices.

       At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was down 3.45 points to 1,521.68 in subdued trading.

       Falling prices in energy futures have put oil and gas and plantation stocks under pressure of late.

       On Thursday, Brent crude futures clung on to US$80 a barrel after Opec's chief warned of a supply glut in December, triggering some selling in oil and gas-related stocks.

       The Bursa Malaysia Energy Index was down 1% to 762.1 on the negative oil forecast, its lowest in nearly six weeks.

       Hibiscus Petroleum fell three sen to 79.5 sen, extending its retreat since hitting a peak of 94.5 sen a month earlier.

       Other energy counters on the backfoot included Dayang down 1.5 sen to 93.5 sen, Handal slipping one sen to 22 sen and Carimin shedding two sen to 63.5 sen.

       Plantation stocks meanwhile found some relief after crude palm oil prices halted its decline to hover at its reference price of RM6,544 a metric tonne.

       Among the heavyweights, Kuala Lumpur Kepong rose eight sen to RM20.52, while both Sime Darby Plantation and IOI were unchanged at RM3.87 and RM3.78 respectively.

       In glove counters, prices continued to fall towards pre-pandemic levels of trading on expectations of declining average selling prices.

       Market leaders Top Glove shed 13 sen to RM2.38 while Hartalega dropped 12 sen to RM5.33. Supermax slipped four sen to RM1.78 and Kossan fell four sen to RM2.03.

       The market breadth on Bursa was negative with 528 decliners versus 291 gainers.

       Top actively traded stocks were WZ Satu up one sne to 23.5 sen, Soution rising 10 sen to 61 sen and Tanco gaining 0.5 sen to 27 sen.

       Meanwhile, investors took pause in Asian markets as the growth outlook in Asia stalled ahead of the year-end.

       Japan's Nikkei was down 0.75% while South Korea's Kopsi dropped 0.2%.

       China's main index was flat but Hong Kong's Hang Seng dove 1.2% on signs that major tech companies may post weaker earnings following the year-long regulatory crackdown.

       Australia's ASX200 was up 0.1%.