Kuala Lumpur:Bursa Malaysia’s key index opened lower on Friday, following a decline in US Wall Street due to concerns surrounding Nvidia's leadership crisis. At 915 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell by 1.05 points to 1,584.91, down from Thursday’s close of 1,585.96. The benchmark index had earlier opened 0.47 points lower at 1,585.49.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, despite the weaker performance of the index, market breadth remained positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 175 to 150. A total of 285 counters were unchanged, and 2,174 were untraded, while 16 were suspended. The turnover was recorded at 185.37 million shares valued at RM66.47 million.
Mohd Sedek Jantan, IPPFA director of investment strategy and country economist, noted that US equities faced renewed selling pressure as concerns about Nvidia’s leadership intensified, leading investors to reassess risks in the artificial intelligence (AI) investment sector. Nvidia’s shares saw a significant drop, affecting semiconductor stocks and broader technology sentiment.
Sedek highlighted that the developments added uncertainty to the volatile AI trade, given Jensen Huang’s pivotal role in shaping the industry’s investment narrative and Nvidia’s significant financial and commercial ties within the AI ecosystem. The weakness extended beyond Nvidia, with AI infrastructure and cloud-computing companies also experiencing selling pressure.
Nebius, a neocloud provider, experienced a 20 percent drop despite strong quarterly results, as investors reacted to weaker revenue guidance, revised growth targets, and an increased capital expenditure plan of US$40 billion to US$45 billion.
On Bursa Malaysia, heavyweight stocks showed mixed results. CIMB decreased by four sen to RM7.05, Tenaga Nasional lost two sen to RM12.78, while IHH Healthcare fell by one sen to RM7.83. Conversely, Maybank increased by one sen to RM9.92, and Public Bank remained unchanged at RM4.53.
In active trade, V.S. Industry and MMAG Holdings each decreased by half a sen to 28 sen and 3.5 sen, respectively. GIIB Holdings and Parlo gained one sen each to 11.5 sen and five sen, respectively, while Ni Hsin Group added half a sen to nine sen.
Among top gainers, Master-Pack Group rose 13 sen to RM1.55, P.I.E. Industrial climbed 12 sen to RM1.62, and UWC increased by 11 sen to RM6.48. Ranhill Utilities and Mega Fortris gained nine sen each to RM2.99 and RM1.10, respectively.
Leading the decliners, Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 16 sen to RM21.22, United Plantations dropped 14 sen to RM31.46, PJBumi shed 13 sen to RM4.12, Mentiga Corp declined nine sen to RM1.06, while Tradeplus Shariah Gold Tracker decreased eight sen to RM4.86.
On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index fell by 2.10 points to 11,785.99, the FBM Top 100 Index decreased by 5.50 points to 11,613.75, and the FBM ACE Index fell by 5.78 points to 5,181.13. In contrast, the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased by 0.59 points to 11,773.86, while the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 1.48 points to 16,950.05.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased by 12.71 points to 18,444.07, and the Plantation Index dropped 44.93 points to 8,874.33. Meanwhile, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.15 points to 171.17, and the Energy Index rose by 1.31 points to 783.13.
Source BERNAMA News Agency