Bursa malaysia: Bursa Malaysia experienced a decline at midday as continuous selling in selected heavyweight stocks contributed to a mild profit-taking scenario. At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased by 4.88 points to 1,715.49, down from Tuesday's closing value of 1,720.37.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the barometer index began the day 0.53 points lower at 1,719.84 and experienced fluctuations between 1,712.68 and 1,721.31 during the morning trading session. The market breadth was negative, with 468 decliners outnumbering 346 gainers, while 479 counters remained unchanged, 1,454 were untraded, and 23 were suspended. The turnover for the session stood at 1.82 billion units valued at RM1.08 billion.
Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd noted that after a significant surge of 80 points from 1,655 to 1,735, the FBM KLCI retraced 15 points from its recent peak, closing at 1,720.37 the previous day. This retracement was attributed to investors engaging in profit-taking. The bank highlighted that while technical strength, resilient domestic fundamentals, and renewed foreign inflows are expected to support the FBM KLCI's recovery, near-term gains might be limited by external challenges. These challenges include concentrated market leadership, stretched valuations in the artificial intelligence and technology sectors, heightened tensions in West Asia, and the US Federal Reserve's hawkish stance.
In the heavyweight stocks category, Maybank fell by four sen to RM10.98, Public Bank eased by one sen to RM5.19, Tenaga Nasional dropped by 20 sen to RM14.36, IHH Healthcare slipped 10 sen to RM8.40, while CIMB Group saw an increase of two sen to RM7.70. On the most active list, Aimax rose by half a sen to 1.5 sen, V.S Industry increased by one sen to 26 sen, while Zetrix AI and Tanco each edged down by one sen to 72 sen and 30.5 sen, respectively. GIIB Holdings remained flat at 57 sen.
Among top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries increased by 88 sen to RM47.72, Nestle climbed 30 sen to RM93.42, Kesm Industries rose 25 sen to RM4.33, and UMS Integration Ltd gained 16 sen to RM8.35. Leading decliners included Batu Kawan, which decreased by 50 sen to RM20.80, Kuala Lumpur Kepong slid by 42 sen to RM20.72, while Pentamaster Corp and UWC both fell 16 sen to RM5.03 and RM6.11, respectively. Solarvest Holdings slipped by 14 sen to RM3.04.
On the broader market, the FBM Top 100 Index decreased by 32.14 points to 12,505.99, the FBM ACE Index lost 4.22 points to 4,962.64, the FBM Emas Index shed 29.29 points to 12,680.47, the FBM Mid 70 Index decreased by 31.52 points to 17,977.25, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined by 35.25 points to 12,509.20. In terms of sectors, the Financial Services Index dropped by 33.12 points to 20,267.01, and the Plantation Index tumbled by 81.22 points to 9,275.79. However, the Energy Index inched up by 0.47 of a point to 770.87, and the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.01 points to 188.25.