Kuala Lumpur: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower on Thursday, affected by early selling in heavyweight stocks, particularly Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional. At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined by 4.19 points to 1,583.61, down from the previous day's close of 1,587.80. The benchmark index started the day 1.28 points lower at 1,586.52.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, market breadth was negative as the number of losers outpaced gainers, with 224 counters declining compared to 104 that advanced. Meanwhile, 254 counters were unchanged, 1,815 remained untraded, and 83 were suspended, with a turnover reaching 349.26 million shares valued at RM244.23 million.
The losses in Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional contributed to the composite index falling by 1.97 points or 1.40 percent. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's equity research vice-president, Thong Pak Leng, noted that Wall Street had closed higher the previous day, with the S and P 500 reaching an all-time high. This was driven by tech stocks, supported by President Donald Trump's latest initiatives on artificial intelligence and the anticipated corporate tax cuts. Thong suggested that traders were taking the opportunity to lock in profits.
Thong further commented that although it was still early, there was anticipation for the index to trend within the 1,585-1,595 range, with hopes that recent interest in blue-chip stocks might eventually attract retail interest back to smaller-cap stocks.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank fell by three sen to RM4.37, Tenaga Nasional decreased by 10 sen to RM13.78, and Maybank dropped by two sen to RM10.34. In contrast, IHH Healthcare remained steady at RM7.18, and CIMB rose by one sen to RM8.07.
In terms of active stocks, Oriental Kopi Holdings gained 35 sen to 79 sen from its initial public offering price of 44 sen. Meanwhile, Harvest Miracle Capital and Velesto Energy each increased by half a sen to 18 sen and 20 sen, respectively. Pertama Digital climbed one sen to 20 sen, while Yew Lee Pacific remained unchanged at 55.5 sen.
On the broader market, several indices experienced declines. The FBM Emas Index dropped 21.16 points to 12,012.60, the FBMT 100 Index fell by 21.11 points to 11,820.71, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped by 22.70 points to 12,012.60, and the FBM ACE Index decreased by 9.63 points to 5,228.96. However, the FBM 70 Index saw a slight increase, rising by 5.63 points to 18,132.44.
The sectoral performance showed the Energy Index depreciating by 1.37 points to 853.65, the Financial Services Index decreasing by 20.36 points to 18,925.05, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edging down by 0.21 of a point to 170.00. Conversely, the Plantation Index rose by 4.57 points to 7,426.27.