Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened flat on Wednesday, following Wall Street’s downbeat performance overnight. At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slightly decreased by 0.29 of a point, or 0.02 percent, to 1,525.11 from the previous day’s close of 1,525.40. The benchmark index commenced trading 1.63 points lower at 1,523.77.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the market breadth appeared weaker as decliners outnumbered gainers, with 178 to 108, while 282 counters remained unchanged, 1,877 were untraded, and eight were suspended. The turnover was recorded at 165.78 million shares valued at RM85.02 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd noted that Wall Street’s initial rally diminished due to hotter-than-expected inflation data, which failed to alleviate tariff concerns and heightened expectations of the US Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates. The firm suggested that the local bourse may start on a weaker tone following Wall Street’s performance. However, technology stocks might see interest due to the resumption of chip sales in China, and the technology sector locally may attract buying interest.
The brokerage firm also highlighted potential in the real estate investment trusts sector, influenced by the recent Bank Negara Malaysia overnight policy rate cut. Additionally, the consumer sector might benefit from downtrading activities amidst persistent inflationary pressures.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank decreased by one sen to RM9.64, Tenaga Nasional dropped six sen to RM13.84, and CIMB fell by three sen to RM6.60. Public Bank increased by one sen to RM4.27, while IHH Healthcare remained steady at RM6.58.
In active trading, NexG rose by half a sen to 48 sen, Nationgate increased by two sen to RM1.51, Green Ocean Corporation moved up one sen to 13.5 sen, Zetrix AI climbed 1.5 sen to 94.5 sen, and TWL stayed unchanged at 2.5 sen.
On the broader index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased by 7.99 points to 11,468.09, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 6.30 points to 11,231.31, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased by 3.44 points to 11,479.74. The FBM 70 Index narrowed by 27.40 points to 16,661.0, while the FBM ACE Index edged down by four points to 4,583.62.
By sector, the Financial Services Index declined by 17.28 points to 17,485.37, the Energy Index edged down 0.93 of a point to 737.99, and the Plantation Index improved by 13.63 points to 7,432.05. The Industrial Products and Services Index decreased by 0.02 of a point to 153.37.