FBM KLCI Falls For Second Straight Day Amid Rising External Pressures

By Siti Noor Afera Abu

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 (Bernama) -- The FBM KLCI extended its decline for a second consecutive day, as investor sentiment remained pressured by rising external risks, particularly weak economic growth in China and stronger-than-expected US economic data. 

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 14.02 points, or 0.86 per cent, to 1,600.81 from Wednesday’s close of 1,614.83. 

The index opened 3.34 points firmer at 1,618.17 and moved between 1,600.75 and 1,618.17 throughout the day. 

Decliners trounced advancers 900 to 231 on the broader market, while 454 counters were unchanged, 785 untraded, and 10 others suspended.

Turnover narrowed to 3.49 billion units valued at RM2.93 billion against Wednesday’s 3.59 billion units valued at RM3.06 billion

UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said the combination of weak Chinese economic data, robust US economic performance, and uncertainty surrounding future US trade policies has created a challenging environment for investors.

These factors continue to dampen risk appetite, further contributing to the sustained decline in the FBM KLCI, which has dropped more than 40 points year-to-date. The broader economic outlook remains clouded by these external pressures.

Compounding these uncertainties, he also stated that the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) latest meeting minutes signalled "placeholder assumptions" regarding potential trade policy shifts under the Trump 2.0 administration.

“These assumptions suggest that the Fed is evaluating the possible economic impact of policies such as higher tariffs or changes to trade agreements. While elevated trade tariffs may be a priority for the new administration, they are likely to pose significant risks to growth.

“The Fed's monetary policy decisions will remain data-dependent, but trade policy uncertainty could play a crucial role in delaying interest rate cuts, even if inflation and employment figures show improvement,” he told Bernama.

On Bursa Malaysia, Mohd Sedek said all sector indices posted losses, reflecting the broader market downturn.

“However, despite this negative performance, trading volume remained robust, with 3.28 billion shares changing hands, which suggests that investor activity continued, indicating a level of resilience and engagement despite the prevailing market uncertainty,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, both Maybank and CIMB added two sen to RM10.08 and RM8.11 respectively, Petronas Dagangan rose six sen to RM19.70, while Petronas Chemicals lost four sen to RM4.73 and YTL Power slid 31 sen to RM4.20.

For active stocks, Swift Energy gained 2.5 sen to 42 sen, Elridge bagged 3.5 sen to 45.5 sen, while TWL was flat at 2.5 sen, SNS Network shed 4.5 sen to 63.5 sen, and MYEG eased four sen to 92 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 135.67 points to 12,294.67, the FBM Emas Shariah Index tumbled 166.18 points to 12,260.85, the FBMT 100 Index plummeted 127.78 points to 11,977.79, the FBM 70 Index slid 282.03 points to 18,480.12, and the FBM ACE Index dropped 68.34 points to 5,309.83.

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index lost 2.72 points to 170.62, the Energy Index declined 16.54 points to 835.32, the Financial Services Index shrank 44.60 points to 18,853.78, and the Plantation Index slipped 22.57 points to 7,533.36. 

The Main Market volume improved to 1.83 billion units worth RM2.59 billion against Wednesday’s 1.64 billion units worth RM2.65 billion.

Warrants turnover dipped to 1.07 billion units valued at RM108.46 million versus 1.17 billion units valued at RM121.60 million previously.   

The ACE Market volume dwindled to 583.14 million units worth RM229.70 million from 777.83 million units worth RM287.48 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 169.27 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (432.17 million), construction (173.73 million), technology (294.80 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (56.92 million), property (282.85 million), plantation (29.69 million), REITs (13.77 million), closed/fund (216,000), energy (96.26 million), healthcare (112.98 million), telecommunications and media (45.29 million), transportation and logistics (28.16 million), utilities (94.81 million), and business trusts (245,100).

-- BERNAMA