Bursa Malaysia opens higher, outperforms regional peers

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 —Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Wednesday, outperforming the weaker overnight performance on Wall Street and mixed trading across regional markets.

At 9.10 m, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 6.42 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 1,689.35 from Tuesday’s close of 1,682.93.

The benchmark index opened 3.05 points higher at 1,685.98.

Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading decliners 158 to 151. A total of 293 counters were unchanged, 2,069 were untraded and 12 suspended.

Turnover stood at 135.87 million shares worth RM73.73 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed lower overnight as investors trimmed positions amid concerns that market expectations had outpaced fundamentals.

He said the sell-off in artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks gathered pace.

“Fresh attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have also lifted oil prices, with Brent crude rising to around US$74 a barrel, while the US 10-year Treasury yield edged up to 4.551 per cent.

“Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped below the 23,500 level as selling in AI-related stocks resurfaced,” he told Bernama.

On the domestic front, Thong expects the FBM KLCI to trade within the 1,680-1,690 range as market activity is likely to remain subdued.

Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank rose 12 sen to RM11.04, CIMB gained seven sen to RM7.67 and Public Bank added two sen to RM4.93. Tenaga Nasional was unchanged at RM14.30, while IHH Healthcare fell four sen to RM8.34.

Among active stocks, Mestron gained 1.5 sen to 12 sen, while Pentech, Lotus KFM and GIIB each added one sen to 29 sen, 11 sen and 51 sen, respectively. AirAsia X slipped two sen to RM1.16.

Among the top gainers, Allianz Malaysia rose 28 sen to RM20.88, Malaysian Pacific Industries added 18 sen to RM46.02, while Sarawak Oil and Hong Leong Bank gained eight sen each to RM4.97 and RM22.04, respectively.

Press Metal Aluminium led the losers, falling eight sen to RM7.59. UWC, SAM Engineering, Unisem and Frontken each declined five sen to RM6.25, RM4.92, RM4.53 and RM4.80, respectively.

Among the broader indices, the FBM Emas Index gained 38.92 points to 12,501.71, the FBMT 100 Index rose 39.96 points to 12,332.87, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 14.10 points to 12,298.45 and the FBM 70 Index added 27.99 points to 17,802.59. The FBM ACE Index, however, eased 15.73 points to 4,858.42.

By sector, the Financial Services Index climbed 131.26 points to 20,059.22, the Energy Index rose 5.47 points to 766.80, the Plantation Index gained 2.53 points to 9,044.41, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.20 of a point to 181.40. — Bernama