KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Thursday, weighed down by mild profit-taking and mixed signals from Wall Street overnight.
At 9.13am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.64 points to 1,741.18, after opening 3.0 points higher at 1,745.82, compared with Wednesday’s close of 1,742.82.
On the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers 227 to 116, while 318 counters were unchanged. A total of 1,993 counters remained untraded, with 15 suspended.
Market turnover stood at 188.69 million shares valued at RM107.06 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street finished mixed, supported by buying in consumer, energy, healthcare and entertainment stocks, while technology shares declined amid artificial intelligence concerns.
“The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53 per cent to 49,501.30, while the S&P 500 edged down 0.51 per cent to 6,882.72. Selling in technology stocks saw the Nasdaq give up 1.51 per cent to 22,904.58,” he told Bernama.
He added that Hong Kong equities recovered from earlier losses in technology stocks, lifted by strength in mainland China solar names and easing value-added tax concerns.
“The Hang Seng Index gained 0.05 per cent to end at 15,857.32,” he said.
On the local front, Thong described Wednesday’s marginal FBM KLCI decline as a positive correction after profit-taking, allowing the market to absorb the recent rally.
“We expect the long-term uptrend to continue, supported by attractive valuations and persistent foreign fund inflows. We anticipate the benchmark index to trade within 1,735–1,755 today,” he added.
Among heavyweight counters, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional added 2.0 sen each to RM11.96 and RM14.12, while CIMB rose 1.0 sen to RM8.51. IHH Healthcare slipped 6.0 sen to RM8.90, and Public Bank remained flat at RM4.91.
On the most active list, MMAG inched up 0.5 sen to 5.5 sen, Pharmaniaga and Capital A fell 0.5 sen each to 32 sen and 59 sen, Gamuda declined 7.0 sen to RM4.08, and Zetrix AI remained flat at 80 sen.
Top gainers included Nestle, which added 20 sen to RM112.10, Petronas Dagangan up 8.0 sen at RM20.04, IOI Properties and Keck Seng (M) rose 6.0 sen each to RM3.23 and RM5.59, and KYM gained 4.5 sen to 30 sen.
Leading decliners included Fraser & Neave, down RM1.50 to RM33.86, Malaysian Pacific Industries, down 12 sen to RM32.38, UWC, down 9.0 sen to RM4.20, and YTL Power International and Malayan Cement, each down 8.0 sen to RM3.12 and RM8.20.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index fell 17.29 points to 12,555.32, the FBM Emas Index lost 19.26 points to 12,734.45, the FBM Mid 70 Index dropped 48.47 points to 17,460.41, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 29.06 points to 12,256.94, and the FBM ACE Index erased 12.04 points to 4,684.11.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 9.47 points to 21,491.78, while the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.25 of-a-point to 176.33, the Plantation Index lost 2.99 points to 8,381.96, and the Energy Index slipped 4.05 points to 751.86. — Bernama
