Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia experienced a downturn in early trading today, influenced by a weaker performance on Wall Street overnight and the absence of new economic indicators. At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 2.61 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,678.38, compared to Monday's close of 1,680.99. The index initially opened 3.33 points lower at 1,677.66.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the broader market showed a negative trend with decliners outnumbering gainers, 117 to 112, while 282 counters remained unchanged, 2,212 were untraded, and 78 were suspended. The turnover amounted to 96.30 million shares valued at RM36.51 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, commented that Wall Street ended on a weak note due to cautious sentiment amid a muted session. He noted that the local market's undertone remained solid, with expectations for the key index to close 2025 positively. Thong expressed optimism about the index reaching the 1,700 level, anticipating it might be breached soon. For the day, he projected the index to fluctuate within the 1,675-1,685 range.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank decreased by two sen to RM10.42, CIMB fell by one sen to RM8.22, Tenaga Nasional dropped 10 sen to RM13.78, while Public Bank and IHH remained stable at RM4.51 and RM8.56, respectively.
On the most active list, TWL and Zetrix were unchanged at 2.5 sen and 81.5 sen, respectively. MQ Technology rose by one sen to 9.5 sen, Mega Fortis decreased by 1.5 sen to 78.5 sen, and NexG gained one sen to 28 sen.
In terms of top gainers, Hong Leong Industries increased by 29 sen to RM16.60, Bintulu Port added 17 sen to RM5.48, Country View rose nine sen to RM2.89, Chin Hin increased by six sen to RM2.50, and Crescendo added five sen to RM1.32.
Conversely, among the top losers, Nestle fell 70 sen to RM115, Petronas Dagangan decreased by 18 sen to RM19.62, and both Malayan Cement and Kim Loong dropped six sen to RM7.57 and RM2.35, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased by 11.71 points to 12,293.18, the FBMT Top 100 Index fell by 11.40 points to 12,097.93, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined by 11.11 points to 12,102.81. Meanwhile, the FBM Mid 70 Index rose by 17.67 points to 16,803.61, and the FBM ACE Index lost 9.50 points to 4,865.28.
In sectoral performance, the Financial Services Index dropped by 15.46 points to 19,661.53, the Energy Index increased by 2.02 points to 766.94, and the Industrial Products and Services Index rose by 0.09 of a point to 174.01, while the Plantation Index fell by 20.15 points to 8,301.97.