Bursa Malaysia Weaker In Early Trade, Tracking Wall Street's Muted Overnight Performance

By Siti Radziah Hamzah

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia traded flat to lower during the early morning trade, taking its cue from Wall Street’s muted overnight performance as most traders remained on the sidelines ahead of the United States (US) Federal Reserve’s potential rate cut.

At 9.13 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 3.84 points to 1,660.44 from Tuesday's close of 1,664.33. 

The benchmark index opened 0.05 of-a-point higher at 1,664.33.  

Across the broader market, losers led gainers 232 to 104, with 256 counters unchanged, 1,913 untraded and nine suspended.

Turnover amounted to 215.23 million shares worth RM159.22 million.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it expects the healthcare sector to remain in focus today, with higher US tariffs benefiting glove manufacturers and Malaysia confirming its first Mpox case, which could boost trading in glove and hospital stocks.

"Given the strong ringgit, we favour sectors like consumer, utilities, financials, and automotive.

“Additionally, we believe ongoing data centre projects will benefit the construction sector, while the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone should provide a boost to the property sector,” it said.

Maybank and Genting Malaysia led the heavyweight counters, gaining two sen each to RM10.68 and RM2.38, respectively.

Meanwhile, Telekom Malaysia rose three sen to RM6.72, CIMB and Genting Bhd added one sen each to RM8.37 and RM4.16, respectively, while Maxis and MISC were flat at RM3.89 and RM8.11, respectively.

Among the active counters, Revenue Group increased one sen to 17 sen and Vetece inched up half-a-sen to 42.5 sen, while Top Glove shed five sen to RM1.09, Kossan shaved 12 sen to RM2.13,  and Supermax, Hartalega and Careplus eased one sen each to 92 sen, RM3.13 and 29.5 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index trimmed 37.15 points to 12,384.72, the FBM Emas Shariah Index tumbled 57.54 points to 12,216.4, and the FBMT 100 Index went down 37.56 points to 12,099.93.   

The FBM 70 Index depreciated 90.09 points to 17,489.72, while the FBM ACE Index eased 7.65 points to 5,094.66.  

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved by 8.39 points to 19,649.34, the Plantation Index was 35.38 points easier at 7,178.09, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.26 points to 175.65, and the Energy Index notched down 1.02 points to 868.7.  

-- BERNAMA