Bursa Malaysia Opens Higher

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia kicked off the second half of 2026 on a positive note, buoyed by stronger overnight gains on Wall Street and improving market sentiment as progress in US-Iran peace negotiations lifted investor confidence.

At 9.16 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ticked up 0.59 of a point to 1,664.65 from Tuesday’s close of 1,664.06, after opening 1.29 points higher at 1,665.35.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers outpacing decliners 238 to 111, while 304 counters were unchanged, 1,968 remained untraded, and 14 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 190.88 million shares valued at RM103.19 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended broadly higher, led predominantly by technology stocks.

Regarding the local front, he told Bernama that late bargain hunting helped the FBM KLCI recover from its intraday low yesterday, although overall market sentiment remained subdued.

He expects the benchmark index to fluctuate within the 1,660-1,670 range today.

Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank, Public Bank and IHH were flat at RM10.78, RM4.80 and RM8.40, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional fell eight sen to RM14.20 and CIMB gained four sen to RM7.45.

Of the active counters, Tanco and Pegasus were flat at 17.5 sen and half a sen, while Dagang Nexchange bagged two sen to 43.5 sen, and Nationgate increased 2.5 sen to 91.5 sen. Salutica eased one sen to nine sen.

On the gainers’ list, Malaysian Pacific Industries jumped 70 sen to RM50.36, Critical Holdings soared 32 sen to RM1.41, Vitrox improved 23 sen to RM7.99, KESM climbed 17 sen to RM4.20, and UWC expanded 14 sen to RM6.77.

Among the top losers, Kawan Renergy slipped eight sen to 43 sen, Gamuda dropped seven sen to RM4.30, Sealink and Tradeplus trimmed six sen each to 28 sen and RM5.04, respectively, while Kluang Rubber erased four sen to RM5.86.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index was 17.80 points higher at 12,402.91, the FBM Top 100 Index added 15.36 points to 12,230.40, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 11.11 points to 12,294.96.

The FBM Mid 70 Index went up 69.20 points to 17,986.67, and the FBM ACE Index expanded 17.48 points to 4,840.91.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 29.48 points to 19,640.14, the Energy Index ticked up 1.92 points to 753.56, the Plantation Index weakened 16.02 points to 8,838.74, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.37 of a point to 181.00.

-- BERNAMA