Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened weaker on Monday, tracking regional markets as sentiment remained cautious amid a fragile global economic environment. At 9.19 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 16.23 points, or 0.95 percent, to 1,677.20 from last Friday's close of 1,693.43. The index opened 9.89 points lower at 1,683.54. Market breadth was negative, as losers outpaced gainers 622 to 115, while 265 counters were unchanged, 1,673 untraded, and 13 suspended. Turnover stood at 483.18 million shares worth RM283.19 million.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, noted that the FBM KLCI finally broke out from its brief correction to close above the 1,690 level last Friday. However, sentiment remains cautious over escalating West Asia tension. Despite uncertainties in the region, crude oil prices eased with Brent crude down to around US$93/barrel. Thong anticipates the index to hover within the 1,690-1,700 range today.
Thong further mentioned that Wall Street ended sharply lower, predominantly led by declines in semiconductors and artificial intelligence-related stocks due to a hotter-than-expected job report, which may delay a rate cut. Among heavyweights, Maybank erased 18 sen to RM10.62, Public Bank was seven sen lower at RM4.80, Tenaga Nasional removed four sen to RM14.10, CIMB was five sen easier at RM7.34, and IHH was down 12 sen to RM8.73.
In terms of active stocks, Zetrix AI slipped 1.5 sen to 81 sen, Hong Seng added half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, VS Industry fell half-a-sen to 20.5 sen, AirAsia X removed 20 sen to RM1.11, while Capital A erased 41 sen. Among the top gainers, EITA added eight sen to 55 sen, TMK Chemical and PJBumi were five sen better at RM2.15 and RM3.30, respectively.
Meanwhile, among the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries dropped RM1.76 to RM45.04, Nestle was down by RM1.26 to RM93.02, Petronas Dagangan fell 50 sen to RM18.74, and Allianz erased 38 sen to RM20.60. On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 12.7.85 points to 12,474.21, while the FBM Top 100 Index eased 135.24 points to 12,306.66, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down 123.17 points to 12,446.98.
The FBM Mid 70 Index gave up 266.93 points to 18,032.66, and the FBM ACE Index edged down 73.43 points to 4,659.81. By sector, the Financial Services Index shrank 191.99 points to 19,592.32, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.4 points to 197.34, the Energy Index slid 3.89 points to 792.31, and the Plantation Index trimmed 11.01 points to 8,660.53.