Bursa Malaysia Ends Marginally Lower As Banking Stocks Weigh On Market

By Siti Noor Afera Abu

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed slightly lower today, dragged down by banking counters as investors took profit from recent gains amid cautious regional sentiment ahead of clearer indications from talks between United States President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased by 0.73 of a point to 1,745.58 from Wednesday's close of 1,746.31.

The benchmark index, which opened 2.79 points higher at 1,749.10, moved between 1,740.35 and 1,750.63 during today’s session.

Market breadth was negative, with losers edging gainers 599 to 558. A total of 612 counters were unchanged, 958 untraded, and 27 suspended.

Turnover decreased to 3.91 billion units worth RM3.22 billion compared with 4.14 billion units worth RM3.44 billion on Wednesday.

IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said market positioning across Asia remained largely defensive as investors avoided taking aggressive risk positions while awaiting greater clarity on the direction of the US-China trade relations and broader geopolitical landscape.

Despite the softer tone, he said the downside in the local market remained relatively orderly, reflecting continued underlying confidence in Malaysia’s domestic macroeconomic resilience.

“This also suggests that current weakness is still being interpreted as near-term consolidation rather than a deterioration in the broader market trend,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM11.18, Public Bank lost five sen to RM4.83, Tenaga Nasional declined 24 sen to RM14.48, and CIMB was two sen weaker at RM7.90. IHH Healthcare added three sen to RM9.02. 

On the most active list, Nationgate rose eight sen to 87 sen, Zetrix AI and GIIB gained one sen each to 84.5 sen and 28 sen, respectively. EG Industries surged 20 sen to RM1.49 while Astro was flat at 5.5 sen.

Among the top gainers, Nestle jumped RM2.76 to RM102.40, Kelington climbed 58 sen to RM7.30, Allianz inched up 52 sen to RM21.64, and VSTECS soared 49 sen to RM5.96.

The top losers included Fraser & Neave, which slipped 16 sen to RM29.0, United Plantations decreased 14 sen to RM29.98, while Pentamaster and Time Dotcom slid 12 sen each to RM4.38 and RM6.24, respectively.

-- BERNAMA