Bursa Malaysia retreats after higher opening as cautious sentiment weighs on regional markets

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index opened higher but subsequently declined, mirroring cautious market sentiment across the region due to varied signals from Wall Street. At 9:10 am, the index fell 3.13 points to 1,618.72 from its previous close of 1,621.85. The benchmark index had previously opened 1.46 points higher at 1,623.31.

In the overall market, gainers were outdone by losers 160 to 122, with 273 counters remaining unchanged, 2,206 untraded, and 10 suspended. Trading volume reached 138.01 million units, valued at RM56.89 million. Thong Pak Leng, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s equity research vice-president, noted that Wall Street concluded mixed, with focus on US midterm elections and potential AI stock sell-offs if Democrats secured control of both the House of Representatives and Senate.

Regionally, optimism stemmed from China's pledge to increase yuan liquidity in Hong Kong, coupled with stronger-than-expected Q3 2026 GDP growth, he said. "Locally, the FBM KLCI marginally rose above 1,620 after foreign funds bolstered stock accumulation. While overall trading was subdued, the recent surge in foreign fund inflows suggests the index may oscillate within a narrow range of 1,615-1,625," Leng told Bernama.

Among major stocks, Maybank and CIMB slipped five sen each to RM9.99 and RM6.93, respectively, while Public Bank held steady at RM4.81, Tenaga Nasional climbed two sen to RM13.18, and IHH Healthcare rose one sen to RM7.77. In active trades, Aizo increased one sen to eight sen, Dagang Nexchange, Bina Puri, and Zetrix AI each rose half a sen to 41 sen, 22 sen, and 6.5 sen, respectively.

NWE Resources stayed flat at 20 sen. MISC led the biggest gainers, surging 12 sen to RM8.47, KLCC climbed eight sen to RM8.38, Malayan Cement added six sen to RM5.36, Pentamaster and Master Tec both increased five sen to RM5.32 and RM1.10, respectively. Top losers included United Plantations, down 20 sen to RM29.68, Hong Leong Bank falling 18 sen to RM21.16, and Telekom Malaysia decreasing nine sen to RM7.81.

Westports and Sunway Construction both fell eight sen to RM7.19 and RM7.64, respectively. The FBM Emas Index slipped 20.0 points to 12,048.32, the FBM Top 100 Index dropped 20.72 points to 11,859.13, the FBM Mid 70 Index fell 20.86 points to 17,298.04, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 14.09 points to 12,030.82, and the FBM ACE Index fell 0.82 points to 5,318.22.

Sectors-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.07 points to 177.65, the Energy Index increased 0.76 points to 827.76, the Financial Services Index declined 68.69 points to 18,648.21, and the Plantation Index dropped 6.21 points to 8,763.44.