Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia ended its three-day winning streak with a marginal decline on Wednesday as selling pressure emerged in selected heavyweight counters, notably in the financial services and telecommunications sectors.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the broader market sentiment was mixed, indicating that investors remained selective ahead of critical local and global data releases.
At the close of trading, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 3.22 points, or 0.19 percent, to 1,631.61, down from the previous day's close of 1,634.83. The index had opened 1.91 points higher at 1,636.74 and fluctuated between 1,630.12 and 1,641.27 during the trading session.
The broader market saw more losers than gainers, with 650 counters declining compared to 463 gaining, while 557 remained unchanged, 1,049 were untraded, and 10 were suspended. Turnover decreased to 3.42 billion units worth RM2.85 billion, down from 3.53 billion units worth RM2.85 billion the day before.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan noted that the local market's pullback was a reflection of short-term profit-taking rather than structural weakness, as investors shifted focus to value-oriented stocks. He highlighted that the market's momentum is supported by expectations of resilient third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP), steady credit demand, and moderating inflation, indicating strengthening macro fundamentals in Malaysia.
Overall, local sentiment is expected to remain data-driven, with attention centered on the ringgit's trajectory, global inflation trends, and upcoming earnings guidance, which are considered key determinants for sustaining the market's recovery momentum towards the year-end.
Among heavyweights, Maybank increased by three sen to RM9.94, and Tenaga Nasional added two sen to RM13.40. Conversely, Public Bank fell by three sen to RM4.27, while both CIMB and IHH Healthcare decreased by six sen to RM7.59 and RM8.24, respectively.
On the most active list, MMAG declined by 1.5 sen to 7.5 sen, Bumi Armada and Dagang NeXchange each shed one sen to 30 sen, Farmiera gained half-a-sen to 25.5 sen, and Perak Transit remained flat at 27.5 sen.
Among the top gainers, Nestle rose 90 sen to RM112.90, Fraser and Neave went up 84 sen to RM31.04, United Plantations increased by 44 sen to RM26.24, Dutch Lady climbed 32 sen to RM27.28, and PJBumi surged 19 sen to RM1.77.
As for the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries fell 40 sen to RM31.0, Petronas Dagangan dropped 26 sen to RM22.66, Hong Leong Industries declined 22 sen to RM14.86, and QL Resources shed 13 sen to RM4.25.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index eased by 5.62 points to 11,866.74, the FBM Emas Index slid 8.58 points to 12,105.73, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 10.10 points to 12,122.73. The FBM ACE Index gave up 11.05 points to 5,064.67, while the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 69.73 points to 16,955.46.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 2.92 points to 8,173.48, the Financial Services Index dropped 16.03 points to 18,427.86, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down by 0.55 of-a-point to 167.73, and the Energy Index lost 1.25 points to 758.09.
The Main Market volume fell to 1.48 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion, compared to 1.55 billion units valued at RM2.49 billion on Tuesday. Warrants turnover decreased to 1.36 billion units worth RM221.58 million compared to 1.42 billion units worth RM213.42 million previously. The ACE Market volume expanded to 578.30 million units valued at RM179.56 million, up from 550.85 million units valued at RM149.32 million the previous day.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 319.57 million shares traded on the Main Market, with other sectors such as industrial products and services, construction, technology, financial services, property, plantation, real estate investment trusts, closed-end funds, energy, healthcare, telecommunications and media, transportation and logistics, utilities, and business trusts also seeing trading activity.