Bursa Malaysia closes lower on profit-taking in banks, telcos

Bursa Malaysia experienced a lower close on Wednesday, driven by profit-taking in certain bank and telecom issuers. Despite a broader market showing positive momentum, particularly in small-cap technology stocks, major banking and telecom firms saw their share prices decline. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's equity research vice-president, Thong Pak Leng, attributed the regional equity rise to investor assessments of the potential impacts of a divided US government.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, the benchmark index, saw a 5.29-point drop to 1,616.56, after opening higher at 1,623.31. Market breadth was positive, with more stocks gaining than losing, while turnover rose to 2.81 billion units valued at RM2.57 billion. Among the affected stocks were Maybank, Public Bank, Tenaga Nasional, and CIMB, which all experienced a decrease in their share prices.