Bursa Malaysia Ends Morning Session Lower

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed the morning session lower, as profit-taking in selected heavyweights, led by healthcare and construction counters, weighed on market sentiment, analysts said.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 12.33 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 1,625.76, from Monday’s close of 1,638.09.

The benchmark index opened 2.03 points lower at 1,636.06 and fluctuated between 1,624.35 and 1,636.50 during the session.

Market breadth was negative, with 715 decliners surpassing 252 gainers, while 418 counters were unchanged, 1,191 remained untraded, and seven were suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.15 billion shares valued at RM1.39 billion.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd said the FBM KLCI may trade sideways in the near term to digest its three-month gain of 6.5 per cent.

“We remain constructive into the seasonally stronger fourth quarter, raising our end-2025 KLCI target to 1,660 from 1,640 on a higher 14.6 times price-to-earnings ratio, supported by projected earnings growth of 3.9 per cent in 2025 and 6.3 per cent in 2026,” it said in a note.

Among heavyweights, IHH Healthcare lost 20 sen to RM8.15, Gamuda fell 21 sen to RM5.26, while Maybank, YTL Corporation and YTL Power International eased six sen to RM9.96, RM2.69 and RM4.13, respectively.

In active trade, Borneo Oil and KNM Group were unchanged at 0.5 sen. ACE Market debutant Cheeding gained 37 sen to 73 sen, Pharmaniaga added one sen to 29.5 sen, while Tanco slipped 2.5 sen to 86 sen.

Other top gainers included Nestle, up 26 sen to RM97.56; UMS Integrated, up 21 sen to RM4.99; Fraser and Neave, 16 sen higher at RM28.16; DKSH, up 14 sen to RM5.00; and Malaysian Pacific Industries, 12 sen firmer at RM31.12.

Top losers, besides Gamuda and IHH Healthcare, included Kluang Rubber, down 20 sen to RM5.50; KSL Holdings, 17 sen lower at RM2.82; and Petronas Dagangan and Plenitude, each slipping 14 sen to RM22.90 and RM2.02.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 84.47 points to 12,096.45, the FBM 100 Index dropped 82.74 points to 11,829.73, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 89.22 points to 12,108.49.

The FBM 70 Index slid 87.76 points to 16,926.66, while the FBM ACE Index weakened 56.08 points to 5,277.39.

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.22 points to 173.30, the Energy Index lost 5.52 points to 780.61, the Financial Services Index fell 90.95 points to 18,544.96, and the Plantation Index declined 21.25 points to 7,798.78.

-- BERNAMA