Bursa Opens Lower Tracking Wall Street Weakness as Rising Oil Prices Weigh

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 – Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index opened lower on Tuesday morning, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street as surging crude oil prices and elevated US Treasury yields heightened inflation concerns and weighed on global risk sentiment.

At 9:10 AM, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.22 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 1,662.80, down from Monday’s close of 1,670.02. The index had opened 5.91 points lower at 1,664.11.

Market breadth opened on a negative note as decliners outpaced gainers 210 to 119, with 308 counters trading unchanged, 2,254 untraded, and 143 suspended. Early trading volume reached 173.79 million shares valued at RM62.81 million.

Global crude oil prices experienced heightened volatility following reports that US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to resolve their ongoing conflict. The geopolitical friction drove Brent crude oil up 1.10 per cent to US$106.29 per barrel, stoking inflation anxieties and lifting US bond yields.

Heavyweights & Active Trading

Blue-chip heavyweight performance was mixed at the opening bell:

• Maybank rose 2 sen to RM10.18.
• Tenaga Nasional advanced 4 sen to RM12.94.
• Public Bank slipped 1 sen to RM4.78.
• CIMB dropped 6 sen to RM7.93.
• IHH Healthcare lost 4 sen to RM7.91.

In active trading, Zetrix AI dropped 1 sen to 18 sen, while Jaks Resources added half a sen to 19 sen. Ni Hsin dipped half a sen to 38.5 sen, Es Sunlogy opened flat at 46.5 sen, and United Asiapac Energy gained 1 sen to 25 sen.

Top Gainers & Losers

Early top gainers included:

• Malaysian Pacific Industries, which recovered 30 sen to RM42.50.
• Petronas Gas, up 26 sen to RM17.56.
• Fraser & Neave, gaining 18 sen to RM22.40.
• KKB Engineering, rising 11 sen to RM1.25.
• Panasonic Manufacturing Asia, climbing 10 sen to RM5.35.

On the losing side, Kuala Lumpur Kepong led decliners, falling 44 sen to RM22.16. Allianz Malaysia shed 30 sen to RM20.80, United Plantations edged down 8 sen to RM31.52, while Press Metal Aluminium and Hong Leong Financial both erased 6 sen to RM7.46 and RM18.84, respectively.

Index & Sectoral Movement

Key indices moved into negative territory early Tuesday:

• The FBM Mid 70 Index dropped 49.18 points to 17,638.58.
• The FBM Emas Index fell 45.07 points to 12,369.72.
• The FBM Top 100 Index declined 47.97 points to 12,158.98.
• The FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 54.53 points to 12,187.79.
• The FBM ACE Index trimmed 14.19 points to 5,476.42.

Across sectors, the Financial Services Index shed 26.91 points to 19,571.47, the Plantation Index cut 35.05 points to 9,183.44, the Energy Index fell 1.67 points to 860.15, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.49 of a point to 182.31.

–NMT