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KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia&#8217;s benchmark index pared earlier losses, ending marginally lower after late buying lifted it to the day&#8217;s high of 1,712.33 at the close, amid mixed regional sentiment.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said some investors engaged in profit-taking following the recent rally, while others opted for late buying indicating that the market remains resilient.
“We view the profit-taking as a healthy correction to digest the recent uptrend. We reckon that as long as foreign inflows continue and buying interest stays focused on fundamentally strong stocks, the benchmark index is likely to remain on a firmer footing. The near-term outlook remains constructive, with potential for further gradual upside,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Sedek Jantan said profit-taking has intensified, with broad-based declines across the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI), FBM Mid 70 and FBM SmallCap indices.
“Investor caution was driven by renewed geopolitical unease following the weekend remarks from US president Donald Trump&#8217;s administration regarding Greenland,” he said.
In meantime, he said globally, the US markets are closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr Day, including the New York Stock Exchange, which is expected to dampen global liquidity and potentially weigh on trading conditions across Asian markets in the next session.
“In addition, with the US corporate earnings season beginning, we expect Bursa to trade in a more modest and range-bound manner as investors await clearer external cues,” he said.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI eased 0.41 of-a-point to 1,712.33 compared with last Friday’s close of 1,712.74.
The benchmark index opened 2.17 points lower at 1,710.57 and subsequently dipped to its intraday low of 1,704.64 after one hour of trading, before clawing back in the late session toward the close.
Market breadth was negative, with decliners outpacing advancers by 778 to 359. A total of 517 counters were unchanged, 1,001 counters were untraded and 11 were suspended.
Turnover declined to 3.08 billion units worth RM2.74 billion from last Friday’s 3.08 billion units worth RM3.08 billion.
Among the heavyweights, CIMB Group and Tenaga Nasional shed 4 sen each to RM8.37 and RM13.82 respectively, Maybank was unchanged at RM11.16, while Public Bank gained 7 sen to RM4.80 and IHH Healthcare rose 3 sen to RM8.41.
On the most active list, AirAsia X declined 2 sen to RM1.65, SMRT Holdings tumbled 26 sen to 18.5 sen, Zetrix AI eased 1 sen to 80.5 sen, and Capital A slipped 4 sen to 50.5 sen, while Tanco Holdings rose 1 sen to RM1.26.
Among the top gainers, Allianz Malaysia climbed RM1.24 sen to RM21.68, Hong Leong Financial Group put on 62 sen to RM21.58, Hong Leong Bank advanced 36 sen to RM24.30, Petronas Dagangan firmed 42 sen to RM21.08, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong added 40 sen to RM20.40.
As for the leading decliners, Malaysian Pacific Industries sank 76 sen to RM33.72, United Plantations fell 50 sen to RM31.20, RHB Bank lost 12 sen to RM8.10, while both MISC and UWC erased 11 sen each to RM7.69 and RM4.47, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 33.49 points to 12,611.54, the FBM Top 100 Index slid 29.88 points to 12,406.84, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shrank 62.13 points to 12,240.69, the FBM Mid 70 Index slumped 162.85 points to 17,522.76, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 38.36 points to 4,935.07.
Sector-wise, the financial services index gained 89.33 points to 20,815.14, while the energy index shed 6.92 points to 777.13, the industrial products and services index edged down 0.29 of-a-point to 174.78, and the plantation index fell 15.67 points to 8,351.43.
The Main Market volume improved to 1.61 billion units worth RM2.47 billion from last Friday’s 1.56 billion units worth RM2.77 billion.
Warrants turnover dwindled to 846.15 million units worth RM103.22 million from 1.04 billion units worth RM140.83 million previously.
The ACE Market volume swelled to 622.52 million units worth RM194.23 million from 475.95 million units worth RM173.76 million last Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 357.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (226.90 million), construction (223.88 million), technology (245.87 million), financial services (116.20 million), property (171.18 million), plantation (20.69 million), real estate investment trusts (18.37 million), closed-end fund (26,100), energy (708.85 million), healthcare (89.38 million), telecommunications and media (20.00 million), transportation and logistics (31.57 million), utilities (22.96 million), and business trusts (33,000).

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