Bursa opens lower on higher US yields, Middle East tensions

Bursa Malaysia commenced trading lower on Thursday, mirroring Wall Street's mixed performance amid rising US Treasury yields and lingering Middle East tensions. By 9:10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 3.74 points, or 0.22%, to 1,647.43, down from Wednesday's conclusion of 1,651.17. Initially, the index had opened 1.30 points lower at 1,649.87.

Across the broader market, sellers outnumbered buyers 200 to 142, with 307 stocks remaining unchanged, 2,124 untraded, and 12 suspended. Trading volume totaled 246.59 million shares, amounting to RM118.14 million. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's equity research vice-president, Thong Pak Leng, attributed Wall Street's mixed finish to easing inflationary pressures, which had lowered hopes for another US Federal Reserve rate hike, despite robust bond yields persisting to dampen market sentiment.

On the home front, Thong suggested the benchmark could trade cautiously, citing a lack of market breadth and recent foreign selling as indicators of ongoing investor caution. "For today, we anticipate the index to linger in a consolidation range between 1,640 and 1,660, with some downside support likely from bargain hunters," he informed Bernama.

Among key players, Maybank and IHH Healthcare remained flat at RM9.90 and RM7.83, respectively. Public Bank dipped by three sen to RM4.67, while CIMB declined by one sen to RM7.78, and Tenaga Nasional slipped by two sen to RM12.94. ACE Market debutant GB Bond tumbled half a sen to 24.5 sen, and VS Industry stayed unchanged at 28 sen. Astro Malaysia gained half a sen to six sen, Jaks Resources rose by one sen to 21.5 sen, and Divfex surged by two sen to 11 sen. Keck Seng led the gainers with an 11 sen increase to RM5.14, while Petron Malaysia climbed seven sen to RM3.47.

Hengyuan Refining and Spritzer each added six sen to RM3.62 and RM3.67, respectively, and Jati Tinggi improved by five sen to RM1.44. Kuala Lumpur Kepong suffered the steepest decline, falling 18 sen to RM22.02, while UWC dropped 15 sen to RM6.92, and Insights Analytics and MISC each slipped nine sen to RM1.20 and RM7.55, respectively.

Petronas Dagangan experienced an eight sen loss, ending at RM19.20. On the index boards, the FBM Mid 70 Index slipped 42.26 points to 17,532.41, the FBM Emas Index fell 26.32 points to 12,265.69, and the FBM Top 100 Index declined 27.82 points to 12,056.62. The FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 22.09 points to 12,154.26, and the FBM ACE Index dropped 6.31 points to 5,527.97.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell by 0.10 point to 180.31, while the Energy Index gained 1.41 points to 847.11. Financial Services and Plantation Indexes respectively tumbled 27.47 points to 19,189.02 and 33.34 points to 9,163.33.