Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower On Muted Trading After Long Holiday
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia started the week on a softer note, with muted trading after the long weekend.
The exchange was closed yesterday for the replacement National Day public holiday while Wall Street was closed yesterday in conjunction with Labour Day.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.24 points to 1,571.88 after closing at 1,575.12 on Friday.
However, the index opened 1.74 points higher at 1,576.86.
In the broader market, decliners beat gainers 235 to 164, while 322 counters were unchanged, with 1,818 untraded and seven suspended.
Turnover was 163.65 million shares worth RM135.91 million.
In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the local bourse was soft, tracking US negative index futures.
“The US indices futures are currently trading mildly negative as investors assess trade policy uncertainty after a federal appeals court ruled most of Trump’s tariffs illegal, a decision he vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court,” it said.
The brokerage firm said while a final ruling against broad-based tariffs could be market-positive, near-term sentiment remains clouded by potential renegotiations and seasonal weakness, with September historically being the worst month for the US equities.
Investors will also be focusing on the August data for S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI and ISM Manufacturing PMI today.
On the local front, Malacca Securities said a positive spillover effect may be seen in 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings Bhd as more than RM50 million was spent on the first day of the RM100 SARA cash handout.
“Gamuda Bhd recently bagged a RM2.1 billion job to build hyperscale data centres in Eco Business Park V, Selangor. This is expected to bode well for data centre-related sectors, including construction and property developers with exposure to industrial tech parks.
“Lastly, traders can monitor NEXG Bhd as it bagged a six-year contract worth RM1.7 billion to supply Malaysian passports and is currently pending a retest of its 52-week high resistance,” it said.
Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank added seven sen to RM9.97, IHH Healthcare and Press Metal Aluminium rose three sen each to RM6.82 and RM5.59, respectively, while Public Bank shaved one sen to RM4.26 and CIMB Group slipped 22 sen to RM7.21.
In actively traded stocks, NEXG climbed half-a-sen to 49.5 sen, Genetec Technology increased one sen to 52 sen, TA Win Holdings and Mestron Holdings were flat each at 1.5 sen and 23 sen, respectively and Ekovest declined 1.5 sen to 36 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index ticked down 27.35 points to 11,675.54, the FBMT 100 Index eased 27.43 points to 11,447.14, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 7.50 points to 11,641.58. The FBM 70 Index gave up 56.35 points to 16,419.88, and the FBM ACE Index gave up 13.15 points to 4,708.87.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 75.75 points to 18,035.27, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.29 of-a-point to 161.93, the Plantation Index was 13.37 points lower at 7,581.08, and the Energy Index was weaker by 0.62 points to 739.60.
-- BERNAMA