Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia pared earlier losses to end slightly lower as investors turned cautious ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled for December 9-10, 2025. At the close of trading, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased by 3.74 points or 0.23 percent, settling at 1,612.78 compared to the previous Friday's close of 1,616.52.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the benchmark index opened marginally lower at 1,616.03, briefly climbing to an intraday high of 1,616.49 in early trading. However, it faced selling pressure, dipping to a low of 1,601.50 in the mid-morning session before regaining some momentum. The broader market saw 738 decliners compared to 328 gainers, with 561 counters unchanged, 1,118 untraded, and 19 suspended.
Turnover for the day increased to 3.32 billion units valued at RM2.14 billion, up from 3.17 billion units worth RM2.24 billion on Friday. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, noted that Bursa Malaysia's performance was largely in line with regional markets. He highlighted that softer US economic data had raised expectations of a 25-basis-point rate cut, but investor sentiment eased following remarks by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell indicating no final decision had been made.
Thong further explained that the FBM KLCI has been moving sideways since mid-October and is expected to remain range-bound due to the lack of significant catalysts, despite holding above the 1,610 support level. He anticipates the index to fluctuate between 1,600 and 1,630 throughout the week.
Heavyweight stocks showed mixed results, with IHH Healthcare advancing by 11 sen to RM8.51 and Tenaga Nasional improving by six sen to RM12.70. Meanwhile, Maybank declined by six sen to RM10.12, CIMB Group by one sen to RM7.90, and Public Bank by two sen to RM4.37.
On the active list, Tanco increased by one sen to RM1.18, Zetrix AI fell by 1.5 sen to 80 sen, while ACE Market debutant BMS Holdings decreased by 4.5 sen to 17.5 sen. PUC slid by half-a-sen to two sen, and Velesto Energy remained unchanged at 25 sen.
Among the top gainers were Nestle, which rose by 50 sen to RM112.50, Quality Concrete, which surged by 30 sen to RM1.25, and United Plantations, which gained 28 sen to RM28.72. Top losers included Fraser and Neave, which shrank by 34 sen to RM34.76, and Ajinomoto, which declined by 28 sen to RM13.62.
The index board showed a decline across various indices, including the FBM Emas Index, which slid by 36.76 points to 11,925.47, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index, which eased by 12.18 points to 11,784.87. Sectoral performance varied, with the Financial Services Index dropping by 78.07 points to 18,933.26 and the Energy Index retreating by 5.31 points to 753.23.
The Main Market volume saw a decrease, while the ACE Market volume expanded with consumer products and services counters accounting for a significant portion of shares traded.