Heavyweight Profit-Taking Drags Bursa Malaysia Lower At Close Despite Q3 GDP Growth

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 – Bursa Malaysia finished lower on Friday, October 16, 2026, as target profit-taking across key financial and commodity heavyweights pulled the benchmark index downward, even as broader buying interest rotated into small-cap technology stocks, telecommunications, and real estate investment trusts (REITs).

At the 5:00 PM closing bell, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 15.94 points, or 0.98 per cent, to end at 1,607.76 compared with Thursday’s close of 1,623.70.

The benchmark index opened 1.13 points higher at 1,624.83 before moving across a session trading range between an intra-day low of 1,602.98 and a high of 1,626.34.

Despite the decline in the main index, overall market breadth across broader equities remained positive, with gainers outpacing decliners 597 to 470, while 518 counters traded unchanged, 1,258 remained untraded, and 33 were suspended.

Total market trading volume expanded to 3.13 billion units valued at RM3.27 billion, up from 3.06 billion units worth RM3.03 billion recorded on Thursday.

Market Dynamics, Active Volume Leaders, and Sectoral Summary

Trading activity and market movements across major sectors at the closing bell included:

• Heavyweight Movements: Banking heavyweights pulled the main index lower, led by CIMB, which tumbled 28 sen to RM7.20, and Maybank, which slid nine sen to RM9.99. Conversely, Public Bank advanced nine sen to RM4.83, while Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare each added two sen to close at RM13.00 and RM8.00, respectively.
• Active Volume Counters: Zetrix AI dropped one sen to 5.5 sen. ACE Market debutant EGH International, which opened at 14.5 sen (1.5 sen below its Initial Public Offering price of 16 sen), closed 2.5 sen lower at 13.5 sen. V.S Industry rose one sen to 34 sen, Top Glove held flat at 90 sen, and Ni Hsin dropped half a sen to 42 sen.
• Top Gaining Equities: Shipping giant MISC led the gainers board, jumping 46 sen to RM8.76, while Petronas Dagangan gained 44 sen to RM19.64. Semiconductor and technology names saw strong buying interest, led by Vitrox (up 28 sen to RM10.60), KESM Industries (up 25 sen to RM4.76), and Pekat Group (up 23 sen to RM2.76).
• Top Declining Equities: Consumer and commodity blue chips experienced heavy selling, with Nestle shedding RM1.18 to RM89.32 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong dropping RM1.10 to RM20.00. Press Metal Aluminium fell 67 sen to RM6.50, Dutch Lady Milk Industries slid 36 sen to RM28.92, and Petronas Gas decreased 28 sen to RM17.32.
• Index Board Performances: The FBM ACE Index rallied 120.15 points to 5,431.05. Meanwhile, the FBM Mid 70 Index slipped 13.79 points to 17,225.94, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 82.67 points to 11,919.87, the FBM Emas Index fell 81.25 points to 11,992.27, and the FBM Top 100 Index slid 89.09 points to 11,786.77.
• Sector Breakdown: Sector indexes ended mixed, as the Plantation Index plunged 210.99 points to 8,632.88, the Financial Services Index dropped 74.82 points to 18,751.82, the Industrial Products and Services Index gave up 4.13 points to 172.79, and the Energy Index slipped 1.87 points to 821.00.
• Market Volume Breakdown: Main Market turnover rose to 1.80 billion units worth RM2.97 billion (up from 1.75 billion units worth RM2.70 billion on Thursday). ACE Market turnover expanded to 493.41 million units valued at RM184.73 million (up from 454.44 million units worth RM206.24 million), while warrants volume narrowed to 837.33 million units valued at RM112.66 million.

–NMT