Bursa Malaysia Takes A Breather Despite Positive Market Sentiment

By Durratul Ain Ahmad Fuad

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia took a breather on Friday, mirroring the subdued performance of regional markets, despite positive sentiment following the release of Malaysia’s second-quarter 2025 (2Q 2025) gross domestic product (GDP) data.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 4.71 points, or 0.30 per cent, to close at 1,576.34 from yesterday’s close of 1,581.05.

The benchmark index opened 0.70 of-a-point firmer at 1,581.75, and moved between 1,571.19 and 1,581.79 throughout the day.

The broader market was negative, with decliners leading advancers 488 to 449, while 497 counters were unchanged, 1,138 untraded and seven suspended. 

Turnover declined to 2.01 billion units worth RM2.03 billion from 2.40 billion units worth RM2.66 billion yesterday.

UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said market sentiment was steady following the release of Malaysia’s 2Q 2025 GDP data, which expanded 4.4 per cent year-on-year, aligning with the company’s forecast range of 4.30 to 4.50 per cent and only marginally below the advance estimate of 4.5 per cent.

“The outcome defied earlier expectations that April’s reciprocal tariffs, announced by United States (US) President Donald Trump, coupled with prolonged US trade policy uncertainty, would prompt a more pronounced slowdown as businesses adopted a wait-and-see stance.

“With policy direction from Washington now clearer, we believe the worst of the trade-related drag has passed, allowing growth to remain supported in the near term,” he told Bernama. 

In today’s session, banking stocks led gains among the FBM KLCI constituents.

“The sector is often viewed as a proxy for economic momentum, and with GDP data broadly meeting market expectations, investors rotated into financials on the belief that a resilient macro backdrop will support sustained credit demand and earnings visibility.

“This sectoral strength helped offset weakness in selected commodity-linked and export-oriented counters, which remain sensitive to shifts in global trade sentiment,” he added. 

Externally, Mohd Sedek noted that immediate market attention is shifting to Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska later today, coinciding with the release of US retail sales data.

“While headline risk from the geopolitical front may generate intraday volatility in late US trading, market beta is more likely to respond decisively at Monday’s opening,” he said.

Among the heavyweights, CIMB added 5.0 sen to RM7.25, Maybank eased 4.0 sen to RM9.80, Tenaga Nasional went down 6.0 sen to RM13.62, IHH Healthcare declined 8.0 sen to RM6.82, while Public Bank was flat at RM4.45. 

Of the most active counters, Tanco perked up 1.0 sen to 73 sen, Oxford Innotech went up 3.5 sen to 44.5 sen, Zetrix AI inched down half-a-sen to 89.5 sen, Bina Puri was 1.5 sen lower at 35 sen, and TWL was flat at 2.5 sen.

Across the broader market, the FBM Emas Index fell 29.86 points to 11,731.06, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 30.86 points to 11,512.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slumped 53.60 points to 11,654.85, the FBM 70 Index sank 29.25 points to 16,660.68, while the FBM ACE Index jumped 46.91 points to 4,713.45.

By sector, the Financial Services Index increased 29.54 points to 18,080.07, the Plantation Index slipped 77.62 points to 7,504.03, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.22 points to 157.72, while the Energy Index perked up 1.34 points to 740.83.

The Main Market volume declined to 1.17 billion units valued at RM1.82 billion from Thursday’s 1.33 billion units valued at RM2.42 billion.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 474.97 million units worth RM66.97 million from 683.46 million units worth RM100.19 million previously.

The ACE Market volume decreased to 359.0 million units worth RM135.16 million from 391.12 million units worth RM142.13 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 217.46 million shares traded on the Main Market; industrial products and services (143.74 million), construction (102.71 million), technology (138.34 million), financial services (63.09 million), property (185.03 million), plantation (25.07 million), REITs (37.19 million), closed-end fund (1,100), energy (85.52 million), healthcare (77.37 million), telecommunications and media (25.44 million), transportation and logistics (38.10 million), utilities (32.27 million), and business trusts (3,500).

-- BERNAMA