Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street following an announcement from US President Donald Trump regarding the postponement of a planned strike on Iranian power plants and infrastructure. At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased by 2.97 points, or 0.17 percent, reaching 1,723.68 from the previous close of 1,720.71. The index initially opened higher by 11.38 points at 1,732.09.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, despite the gains in the key index, the market breadth showed a negative trend with 316 decliners exceeding 94 gainers. Additionally, 273 counters remained unchanged, 2,082 were untraded, and 28 were suspended. The total turnover was 157.08 million shares, valued at RM185.17 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, mentioned that he believes the local bourse is still receiving adequate support, and he anticipates the index to remain within the 1,715-1,730 range throughout the day.
Among the heavyweight counters, Public Bank increased by three sen to RM4.90, CIMB rose by four sen to RM7.91, and IHH Healthcare climbed by eight sen to RM9.11. Conversely, Tenaga Nasional saw a decline of eight sen to RM14.22, while Maybank stayed flat at RM11.60.
In terms of active stocks, Sunway Healthcare increased by one sen to RM1.91, Zertix AI fell by 2.5 sen to 76 sen, and Bumi Armada decreased by half-a-sen to 32.5 sen. Meanwhile, TWL rose by half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, and AirAsia X gained four sen to RM1.27.
Among the top gainers, Press Metal Aluminium increased by 12 sen to RM7.89, and Malayan Cement rose by 11 sen to RM6.61. SD Guthrie and Sam Engineering and Equipment both added nine sen each to reach RM5.99 and RM3.19, respectively, while Kelington Group increased by eight sen to RM5.08.
Top losers included Nestle, which fell by 82 sen to RM99.58, United Plantations, which decreased by 54 sen to RM34.28, and Tradeplus Shariah Gold Tracker, which slid by 42 sen to RM5.34. Hong Leong Industries trimmed 40 sen to RM16.70, and Hong Leong Bank decreased by 32 sen to RM22.56.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index declined by 19.27 points to 12,369.52, the FBM Emas Index dropped by 24.18 points to 12,514.62, and the FBM ACE Index decreased by 23.93 points to 4,380.36. The FBM 70 Index fell by 208.89 points to 16,934.09, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased by 13.15 points to 12,254.15.
By sector, the Financial Services Index slipped by 38.20 points to 20,640.92, and the Energy Index lost 9.26 points to 784.55. However, the Plantation Index saw an increase of 17.08 points to 8,705.98, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up by 0.23 of a point to 183.39.