Bursa Malaysia Ends Sharply Lower On Rising Yields, Oil Prices

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 – Bursa Malaysia closed sharply lower on Tuesday as broader market sentiment succumbed to selling pressure, driven by surging bond yields and elevated oil prices that weighed heavily on risk appetite.

At 5:00 PM, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) plummeted 26.06 points, or 1.56 per cent, to settle at 1,643.96 compared to Monday’s close of 1,670.02.

The index opened 5.91 points lower at 1,664.11 and fluctuated between an intraday high of 1,665.32 and a low of 1,643.36 throughout the session.

Market breadth was firmly negative, with decliners outpacing gainers 688 to 412, while 548 counters were unchanged, 1,243 untraded, and 143 suspended. Total turnover expanded to 3.31 billion units worth RM2.95 billion, up from 3.11 billion units valued at RM2.40 billion recorded on Monday.

Banking Heavyweights Lead Market Sell-Off

The benchmark was primarily pulled down by heavy selling across core financial heavyweights:

• RHB Bank tumbled 30 sen to RM7.54.
• CIMB dropped 21 sen to RM7.78.
• Maybank shed 17 sen to RM9.99.
• AMMB slid 16 sen to RM6.44.
• Public Bank declined 7 sen to RM4.72.

Among other market heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional lost 18 sen to RM12.72, while IHH Healthcare slipped 8 sen to RM7.87.

Top Gainers, Losers, and Active Counters

In active trade, Zetrix AI declined 2.5 sen to 16.5 sen, and Land & General eased 1.5 sen to 20.5 sen. Jaks Resources gained half a sen to 19 sen, while MAG and Ni Hsin closed flat at 15.5 sen and 39 sen, respectively.

Bucking the broader downturn, top gainers included:

• Allianz Malaysia, which surged 50 sen to RM22.00.
• Solarvest, up 33 sen to RM4.49.
• Samaiden, advancing 28 sen to RM3.18.
• Southern Cable, gaining 21 sen to RM2.97.
• KLCC Property & REITS, climbing 18 sen to RM8.53.

Conversely, Malaysian Pacific Industries ended as the day’s biggest loser, dropping RM1.40 to RM40.80. Nestle fell RM1.04 to RM89.00, Fraser & Neave erased 42 sen to RM21.80, United Plantations lost 28 sen to RM31.32, and Unisem shed 26 sen to RM4.23.

Index and Sector Indices Breakdown

Key indices were heavily in the red across the board:

• The FBM Emas Index dropped 149.32 points to 12,265.47.
• The FBM Top 100 Index fell 155.41 points to 12,051.54.
• The FBM Mid 70 Index dipped 77.68 points to 17,610.09.
• The FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 114.71 points to 12,127.61.
• The FBM ACE Index bucked the trend, gaining 37.97 points to 5,528.58.

Sectorally, the Financial Services Index suffered the sharpest loss, tumbling 337.53 points to 19,260.85. The Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.94 points to 180.86, and the Plantation Index dropped 2.15 points to 9,216.34. The Energy Index provided a rare bright spot, picking up 6.88 points to close at 868.70.

Main Market volume increased to 1.88 billion units worth RM2.58 billion. Technology counters led trading volume on the Main Market with 613.33 million shares traded, followed by industrial products and services (280.60 million) and consumer products and services (261.58 million).

–NMT