Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Friday as investors took profits following two consecutive days of gains, despite broader market sentiment remaining supported by positive market breadth and gains on Wall Street overnight. At 9:07 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.42 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,712.71 from Thursday's close of 1,715.13. The benchmark index opened 1.39 points lower at 1,713.74.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the positive market breadth suggested that buying interest remained intact, with gainers outnumbering losers 220 to 123. A total of 294 counters were unchanged, while 2,135 were untraded and 19 were suspended. Turnover was reported at 294.19 million shares worth RM90.50 million. On the previous day, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) maintained its overnight policy rate (OPR) at 2.75 percent.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street closed broadly higher as traders were hopeful about the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged for the time being. He also mentioned that the US 10-year Treasury yield eased slightly to 4.772 percent despite crude oil prices staying above US$95 per barrel. On the domestic front, Rakuten Trade anticipates the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,710-1,720 range today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added two sen to RM10.60, while Public Bank fell two sen to RM4.98, and CIMB Group declined three sen to RM7.96. Tenaga Nasional remained flat at RM13.68, and IHH Healthcare eased one sen to RM7.98. On the most active list, Zetrix AI rose two sen to 26 sen, Ingenieur Gudang fell half a sen to four sen, Salutica gained 1.5 sen to 13 sen, TWL slipped half a sen to two sen, and Asteel added half a sen to 12.5 sen.
In terms of top gainers, Fraser and Neave jumped 44 sen to RM24.82, Malaysian Pacific Industries gained 38 sen to RM39.98, United Plantations rose 14 sen to RM33.16, Vitrox added 10 sen to RM9.10, and MI Technovation climbed eight sen to RM5.90. Among the top losers, Ta Ann eased eight sen to RM6.21, while Sarawak Oil Palms and Telekom Malaysia both declined six sen to RM5.90 and RM7.72, respectively. CEKD and SD Guthrie both slipped five sen to 25 sen and RM6.35, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM 70 Index rose 12.89 points to 17,918.17, while the FBM ACE Index gained 22.64 points to 5,210.30. The FBM Emas Index eased 7.52 points to 12,675.82, the FBMT 100 Index declined 10.95 points to 12,480.49, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 14.11 points to 12,428.46. Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 13.56 points to 20,193.27, while the Plantation Index fell 35.34 points to 9,458.68. The Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.14 of a point to 187.02, while the Energy Index eased 2.55 points to 807.48.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia announced that trading in the securities of Gamuda and Farm Fresh would be halted from 9 am to 10 am today.