Bursa Malaysia Eases In Early Trade Amid US Policy Uncertainty
By Abdul Hamid A Rahman
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Wednesday but slipped into negative territory shortly after as investors turned cautious amid uncertainty over the United States trade policy.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.35 points to 1,751.66 from Tuesday’s close of 1,754.01. The benchmark had opened 1.35 points higher at 1,755.36.
Market breadth remained positive, with gainers outnumbering losers 199 to 155, while 261 counters were unchanged. A total of 2,154 counters were untraded and 116 suspended. Turnover stood at 177.10 million shares valued at RM105.41 million.
Rakuten Trade head of research Kenny Yee said sentiment remains fragile following Donald Trump’s latest 15 per cent global tariff announcement, with the US 10-year Treasury yield flat at 4.037 per cent.
“Meanwhile, Wall Street rebounded earlier as concerns over artificial intelligence replacing a significant portion of enterprise software eased, reversing the ‘sell first, ask questions later’ mentality,” he told Bernama.
Back home, he noted that yesterday’s FBM KLCI decline could encourage bargain-hunting should the index ease further.
“For today, we expect the index to hover between 1,750 and 1,765,” he said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped two sen to RM12.36, Public Bank eased one sen to RM5.08, CIMB Group added one sen to RM8.45, Tenaga Nasional was unchanged at RM14.10, while IHH Healthcare rose two sen to RM9.10.
On the most active list, ACE Market debutant Teamstar fell 1.5 sen to 24.5 sen, Pharmaniaga decreased half a sen to 29.5 sen, Advance Synergy slid half a sen to eight sen, Capital A added one sen to 60 sen, and Borneo Oil gained half a sen to one sen.
Top gainers included Malaysian Pacific Industries, up 46 sen to RM31.68, Sunway Construction +23 sen to RM6.82, United Plantations +20 sen to RM29.82, Petronas Dagangan +12 sen to RM21.52, and Solarvest +9 sen to RM2.33.
Top losers included Gas Malaysia, down 17 sen to RM4.58, Aeon Credit slipped seven sen to RM5.83, Press Metal fell seven sen to RM7.34, Telekom Malaysia eased six sen to RM8.08, and Gamuda dropped five sen to RM4.10.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index declined 8.74 points to 12,666.16, the FBM Emas Index slipped 7.84 points to 12,843.93, the FBM 70 Index rose 25.01 points to 17,773.73, the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down 4.52 points to 12,342.38, and the FBM ACE Index gained 4.40 points to 4,816.53.
By sector, the Financial Services Index eased 26.43 points to 21,687.87, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.20 of-a-point to 173.41, the Energy Index rose 3.28 points to 770.22, and the Plantation Index advanced 20.10 points to 8,414.18.
-- BERNAMA
