Bursa Malaysia pares early gains on Wall Street weakness

KUALA LUMPUR: The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index opened slightly higher on Wednesday, but quickly lost ground, mirroring Wall Street's overnight decline. This was due to higher crude oil prices and rising US bond yields, which negatively impacted market sentiment. The index closed at 1,697.57 points, down 2.97 points from its previous close of 1,700.54.

Wall Street suffered as crude oil prices and bond yields spiked following fresh US attacks on Iran. Brent crude is currently trading near $95 per barrel, and the US 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.796 percent, making the prospect of interest rate cuts unlikely at the moment. Thong Pak Leng, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's equity research vice-president, believes this could be a buying opportunity for bargain hunters, and expects the index to stay within the 1,695-1,710 range.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank remained unchanged at RM10.56 and RM4.91, respectively. However, other companies like CIMB Group and Tenaga Nasional experienced declines. As for the most active list, various stocks either remained unchanged or saw minor increases and decreases. On the index board, various Bursa Malaysia indices saw different levels of gains and losses.

The Monetary Policy Committee of Bank Negara Malaysia is set to meet on Thursday to decide on the overnight policy rate, with expectations of maintaining it at 2.75 percent for the remainder of 2026.