Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Wednesday but soon slipped into negative territory as investors exercised caution due to ongoing uncertainty over United States trade policy. At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased to 1,751.66, down 2.35 points from Tuesday's close of 1,754.01, despite opening 1.35 points higher at 1,755.36.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, market breadth remained positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 199 to 155, while 261 counters were unchanged. A total of 2,154 counters were untraded and 116 suspended. Turnover was recorded at 177.10 million shares valued at RM105.41 million.
Rakuten Trade head of research Kenny Yee noted that sentiment remains fragile following U.S. President Donald Trump's recent 15 percent global tariff announcement, with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield remaining flat at 4.037 percent. Yee mentioned that Wall Street had rebounded earlier as concerns over artificial intelligence replacing a significant portion of enterprise software eased.
Back in Malaysia, Yee observed that the previous day's decline in the FBM KLCI might encourage bargain-hunting if the index continues to ease. He projected the index to hover between 1,750 and 1,765 for the day.
Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank slipped two sen to RM12.36, Public Bank eased one sen to RM5.08, CIMB Group rose by one sen to RM8.45, Tenaga Nasional remained unchanged at RM14.10, while IHH Healthcare increased by two sen to RM9.10.
In terms of the most active stocks, ACE Market debutant Teamstar fell 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen, Pharmaniaga decreased half a sen to 29.5 sen, Advance Synergy slid half a sen to eight sen, Capital A added one sen to 60 sen, and Borneo Oil gained half a sen to one sen.
Top gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries, which rose 46 sen to RM31.68, Sunway Construction climbed 23 sen to RM6.82, United Plantations increased by 20 sen to RM29.82, Petronas Dagangan added 12 sen to RM21.52, and Solarvest went up by nine sen to RM2.33.
The top losers were Gas Malaysia, which dropped 17 sen to RM4.58, Aeon Credit slipped seven sen to RM5.83, Press Metal fell seven sen to RM7.34, Telekom Malaysia eased six sen to RM8.08, and Gamuda decreased by five sen to RM4.10.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index declined by 8.74 points to 12,666.16, the FBM Emas Index slipped 7.84 points to 12,843.93, the FBM 70 Index rose 25.01 points to 17,773.73, the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down 4.52 points to 12,342.38, and the FBM ACE Index gained 4.40 points to 4,816.53.
By sector, the Financial Services Index eased 26.43 points to 21,687.87, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.20 of-a-point to 173.41, the Energy Index rose 3.28 points to 770.22, and the Plantation Index advanced 20.10 points to 8,414.18.