Bursa Malaysia Slips After Early Gains Amid Mild Profit-taking

By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher, buoyed by overnight gains on Wall Street, but surrendered early advances as investors booked mild profits in selected blue chips and smaller-cap stocks, an analyst said.

At 9.30 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 2.94 points to 1,634.86, down from Thursday’s close of 1,637.80, after opening 20.93 points higher at 1,658.73.

Market breadth was slightly negative, with decliners outnumbering gainers 297 to 265. Meanwhile, 388 counters remained unchanged, 1,624 were untraded, and 17 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 559.35 million units, valued at RM264.49 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street largely ignored the government shutdown as all three major indices hit record highs.

“While the US faces an economic data blackout, the 10-year Treasury yield dipped slightly to 4.085 per cent,” he added.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed above the 27,000 mark, supported by renewed optimism around domestic artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives and signs of stabilisation in the property sector.

Back home, Thong said it was a pleasant surprise to see the FBM KLCI maintain levels above 1,630.

“We believe this reflects inflows of foreign funds back into the local bourse,” he told Bernama.

He also noted that daily trading volume surging past four billion shares was a positive signal for the market.

“If this holds, we are in for an exciting ride over the next three months. For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,635–1,650 range,” Thong said.

Among heavyweights, AMMB and CIMB fell 5.0 sen each to RM5.80 and RM7.55 respectively, SD Guthrie and Sunway slipped 3.0 sen each to RM5.22 and RM5.78, while CelcomDigi eased 2.0 sen to RM3.66.

In active trading, Sarawak Consolidated added 4.5 sen to 21 sen, while NexG, Borneo Oil and TWL were flat at 9.5 sen, 0.5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively. Zetrix AI lost 0.5 sen to 85 sen.

Top gainers included Allianz, up 20 sen to RM18.94; Bursa Malaysia, up 14 sen to RM8.24; Hong Leong Bank, up 12 sen to RM21.10; United Plantations, up 10 sen to RM23.08; and Oriental, up 9.0 sen to RM6.97.

Top losers were Malaysian Pacific Industries, down 62 sen to RM31.12; Nestle, down 48 sen to RM96.64; Panasonic Manufacturing, down 8.0 sen to RM8.47; Alliance Bank, down 7.0 sen to RM4.52; and UMS Integration, down 6.0 sen to RM4.80.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 17.56 points to 12,173.14, the FBM 100 Index eased 17.74 points to 11,903.00, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 9.85 points to 12,212.18, the FBM 70 Index dropped 9.53 points to 17,061.95, and the FBM ACE Index lost 27.80 points to 5,293.01.

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.15 of-a-point to 174.34. The Energy Index slipped 0.10 of-a-point to 782.66, the Plantation Index lost 23.34 points to 7,780.21, and the Financial Services Index eased 26.33 points to 18,552.49.

-- BERNAMA