Bursa Opens Lower, Profit-taking Ahead Of Fed Rate Cut Decision

By Danni Haizal Danial Donald

KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Wednesday, tracking losses from overnight Wall Street performance as profit-taking emerged ahead of the United States (US) Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate cut decision later today.

At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.43 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 1,521.39 from Tuesday’s close of 1,523.82.

The benchmark index opened 0.28 of a point firmer at 1,524.10.

Market breadth was slightly negative, with decliners leading gainers 177 to 104. A total of 263 counters were unchanged, 1,987 untraded, and 89 suspended.

Turnover stood at 169.43 million shares worth RM86.30 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended in the red as investors engaged in profit-taking ahead of the Fed’s interest rate decision later today, amid a mixed set of corporate earnings.

“Additionally, we believe foreign funds took the opportunity to lock in profits after a decent run-up recently.

“Nonetheless, we reckon the sell-down was quite excessive and expect an immediate rebound. Otherwise, we may be stuck within another consolidation phase. For today, we expect the index to trend between the 1,520-1,530 range,” he told Bernama.

Thong also said market sentiment was severely impacted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raising Malaysia’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast.

Yesterday, the IMF in its July 2025 World Economic Outlook (WEO) update “Global Economy: Tenuous Resilience amid Persistent Uncertainty”, raised its forecast for Malaysia's GDP growth to 4.5 per cent in 2025 and 4.0 per cent in 2026. 

It said the forecast is 0.4 percentage point higher than in the reference forecast of the April 2025 WEO and 0.2 percentage point higher for 2026.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM9.53, Public Bank, Tenaga Nasional and CIMB were flat at RM4.21, RM13.32 and RM6.64, respectively. IHH Healthcare dropped two sen to RM6.58.

On the actively traded list, Dataprep gained half a sen to 12 sen, TWL and Harvest Miracle both remained unchanged at 2.5 sen and 17.5 sen, while NexG lost half a sen to 52.5 sen and Pharmaniaga slipped one sen to 17 sen.

Top gainers included Chin Teck Plantations which advanced 21 sen to RM9.70, Petronas Gas added 14 sen to RM17.92, and Country View grew nine sen to RM2.39.

Among the top losers, Nestle dropped RM1.32 to RM86.48, and Malaysian Pacific Industries narrowed 14 sen to RM19.28.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index was down 16.16 points to 11,423.97, the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 15.84 points to 11,185.69, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 22.64 points to 11,455.45.

The FBM 70 Index edged down 14.39 points to 16,513.82, while the FBM ACE Index inched down 9.60 points to 4,617.02.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index ticked down 11.26 points to 17,298.08, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.02  of a point lower at 159.36, and the Plantation Index dropped 18.44 points to 7,376.59, while the Energy Index gained 3.02 points to 746.74.

-- BERNAMA