Bursa opens lower, extending last week’s losses

Bursa Malaysia commenced trading at a lower level on Monday, mirroring a declining pattern from the previous week and the broader regional market trajectory, according to an analyst. By 9:15 AM, the KLCI index had slipped by 1.11 points, or 0.06%, to 1,685.63, a marginal drop from Friday’s closing figure of 1,686.74. The index experienced a slight dip of 0.09 points at 1,686.65.

Market participation was lackluster, with more stocks experiencing losses than gains (322 to 200), while 338 shares remained unchanged, 1,980 were untraded, and 26 were suspended. The trading volume registered 328.99 million shares, amounting to RM160.49 million. Foreign investors continued to be net sellers across the eight Asian markets for the fourth consecutive week, with total outflows reaching $4.52 billion.

Thailand was the only market to witness net inflows. The leading contributors to the outflows were South Korea, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Among the prominent players, Public Bank and CIMB each lost a sen, settling at RM4.79 and RM7.78, respectively. Maybank climbed four sen to RM10.42, IHH Healthcare increased by ten sen to RM7.75, while Tenaga Nasional remained flat at RM13.60.

Top actively traded stocks included Zetrix AI and Luster Industries, which remained unchanged at 25 sen and 35 sen, respectively. United Asiapac Energy fell by a sen to 34 sen, AHB gained half a sen to six sen, and Top Glove rose 1.5 sen to 81.5 sen. Nestle led the gainers, advancing 94 sen to RM92.94. Hong Leong Bank increased by 18 sen to RM23.26, Naim rose 14 sen to 83.5 sen, Citaglobal gained 12 sen to RM1.18, and Petronas Chemicals climbed 11 sen to RM5.20.

Among the top losers were Malaysian Pacific Industries, which fell 46 sen to RM40.24, UMS Integration dropped 26 sen to RM8.04, Chin Teck Plantations decreased by 14 sen to RM10.26, and United Plantations and Sunway Construction each slipped 10 sen to RM33 and RM7.30, respectively. The FBM Mid 70 Index contracted by 24.35 points to 17,704.29, the FBM ACE Index declined by 29.55 points to 5,230.68, the FBM Emas Index slipped 8.64 points to 12,501.56, and the FBM Top 100 Index and FBM Emas Shariah Index each decreased by 10.30 points and 3.77 points to 12,295.34 and 12,393.04, respectively.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved by 0.21 points to 188.99, and the Energy Index rose 3.18 points to 817.61. Conversely, the Financial Services Index fell by 4.89 points to 19,617.32, and the Plantation Index decreased by 33.43 points to 9,402.58.