Bursa Malaysia Slips To Open Easier
By Anas Abu Hassan
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia trended lower in early trade today, tracking softer Wall Street performance overnight amid a lack of new economic indicators.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.61 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 1,678.38 from Monday’s close of 1,680.99. The index opened 3.33 points lower at 1,677.66.
The broader market was negative with decliners leading gainers 117 versus 112, while 282 counters were unchanged, 2,212 untraded, and 78 suspended.
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 said Wall Street ended on a weak note as sentiment remained cautious amid a muted session.
On the home front, he said the local market undertone remained solid, with the key index poised to close 2025 on a positive note.
“With the 1,700 (level) now within a touching distance, we are hopeful that this enigmatic level could be broken anytime soon. For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,675-1,685 range,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell two sen to RM10.42, CIMB eased one sen to RM8.22, Tenaga Nasional lost 10 sen to RM13.78, while Public Bank and IHH were unchanged at RM4.51 and RM8.56, respectively.
On the most active list, TWL and Zetrix were flat at 2.5 sen and 81.5 sen, respectively. MQ Technology rose one sen to 9.5 sen, Mega Fortis slipped 1.5 sen to 78.5 sen, and NexG gained one sen to 28 sen.
Of the top gainers, Hong Leong Industries garnered 29 sen to RM16.60, Bintulu Port added 17 sen to RM5.48, Country View rose nine sen to RM2.89, Chin Hin added six sen to RM2.50, and Crescendo put on five sen to RM1.32.
As for the top losers, Nestle dropped 70 sen to RM115, Petronas Dagangan slipped 18 sen to RM19.62, and Malayan Cement and Kim Loong shed six sen each to RM7.57 and RM2.35, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gave up 11.71 points to 12,293.18, the FBMT Top 100 Index declined 11.40 points to 12,097.93, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 11.11 points to 12,102.81.
The FBM Mid 70 Index went up 17.67 points to 16,803.61, and the FBM ACE Index lost 9.50 points to 4,865.28.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 15.46 points to 19,661.53, the Energy Index gained 2.02 points to 766.94, and the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.09 of a point to 174.01, while the Plantation Index fell 20.15 points to 8,301.97.
-- BERNAMA