Kuala Lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Friday, taking cues from the overnight downbeat performance of Wall Street. At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.96 points to 1,551.58 from Thursday's close of 1,555.54. The benchmark index opened 2.11 points easier at 1,553.43. Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers 183 to 84, while 226 counters were unchanged, 1,884 untraded, and 19 others suspended. Turnover stood at 181.44 million units, valued at RM97.33 million.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng noted that Wall Street closed in negative territory following a choppy session amid the sell-down on mega tech stocks, namely Apple, Nvidia, and Alphabet. On the home front, Thong said the FBM KLCI's performance yesterday failed to sustain its strong opening as selling pressures persisted.
Thong highlighted the persistent selling predominantly from foreign funds, which remains high with a net outflow of RM1.45 billion since the start of 2025. He attributed this unloading to the uncertainty surrounding Donald Trump's potential return, suggesting a similar pattern may continue over the next few days, with the index expected to hover within the 1,550-1,560 range today.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB remained flat at RM10.14 and RM7.99, respectively, while Public Bank fell one sen to RM4.38, and IHH shed two sen to RM7.09. Tenaga added 16 sen to RM13.28. In the active stocks category, TWL Holdings and Yew Lee Pacific were stable at 2.5 sen and 56 sen, respectively, while Velocity Capital rose by half-a-sen to 8.5 sen. Gamuda slid 29 sen to RM3.97, and Aimflex eased half-a-sen to 13.5 sen.
On the broader index, the FBM Emas Index decreased 33.18 points to 11,891.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 44.03 points to 11,718.67, and the FBMT 100 Index declined 34.88 points to 11,580.01. The FBM 70 Index dropped 73.36 points to 17,757.15, and the FBM ACE Index lost 10.63 points to 5,184.31. By sector, the Energy Index shaved 2.81 points to 828.67, the Financial Services Index trimmed 17.64 points to 18,717.69, while the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.34 of-a-point to 165.01, and the Plantation Index slipped 10.42 points to 7,325.96.