Bursa Malaysia Flat at Midday Amid Cautious Trading, Mild Selling

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 – Bursa Malaysia traded flat at midday on Monday as mild selling pressure emerged, with market participants adopting a cautious stance while weighing prospective US-Iran diplomatic negotiations against elevated global crude oil prices, rising bond yields, and a hawkish stance by the US Federal Reserve.

At 12:30 PM, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood unchanged at 1,671.62 compared to Friday’s close, having touched an intraday high of 1,674.11 after opening 0.93 of a point higher at 1,672.55.

The benchmark index fluctuated within a narrow range between 1,668.61 and 1,674.11 during the morning trading session.

Market breadth turned negative as decliners outpaced gainers 667 to 320, with 469 counters trading unchanged, 1,468 untraded, and 91 suspended. Total turnover reached 1.85 billion shares valued at RM1.15 billion.

Heavyweights & Active Trading

Among key heavyweights:

• CIMB Group rose 6 sen to RM7.96.
• Tenaga Nasional advanced 4 sen to RM13.18.
• Maybank slipped 2 sen to RM10.20.
• Public Bank dipped 1 sen to RM4.79.
• IHH Healthcare shaved off 3 sen to RM8.00.

In active trading, both Zetrix AI and Aimax held flat at 19 sen and 0.5 sen, respectively. Jaks Resources recovered 1 sen to 18 sen, while ACE Market debutant Evocom dropped 4.5 sen to 13.5 sen, and Inari Amertron lost 12 sen to RM2.54.

Top Gainers & Losers

Top gainers for the morning session included Nestle, which added 18 sen to RM90.38, followed by Hong Leong Bank, up 16 sen to RM23.30. Solarvest expanded 13 sen to RM4.19, while Kuala Lumpur Kepong and MISC both gained 10 sen to RM22.62 and RM7.95, respectively.

Conversely, Malaysian Pacific Industries led the decliners, falling RM1.38 to RM42.80. United Plantations lost 56 sen to RM32.02, Fraser & Neave shed 40 sen to RM22.60, Kelington dropped 24 sen to RM8.75, and UWC slid 21 sen to RM6.67.

Indices & Sectors

Across index boards:

• The FBM Mid 70 Index dropped 133.83 points to 17,711.08.
• The FBM Emas Index eased 28.13 points to 12,428.51.
• The FBM Top 100 Index fell 23.72 points to 12,219.73.
• The FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 45.10 points to 12,261.13.
• The FBM ACE Index dropped 30.21 points to 5,502.65.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 38.50 points to 19,588.99. On the losing side, the Industrial Products and Services Index dipped 1.35 points to 182.75, the Plantation Index erased 32.89 points to 9,301.98, and the Energy Index edged down 0.52 of a point to 861.31.

–NMT