Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower In Early Friday Trading Tracking Wall Street Losses

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 – Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Friday, October 23, 2026, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street as cautious market sentiment prevailed among local investors.

At 9:05 AM, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 1.07 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 1,607.07 from Thursday’s close of 1,608.14.

The index opened 1.07 points lower at 1,607.63.

Broader market sentiment leaned negative as decliners comfortably outpaced advancers 205 to 71, while 213 counters traded unchanged, 2,412 were untraded, and 16 were suspended. Total turnover reached 128.40 million units valued at RM44.06 million.

Heavyweight Performance, Active Stocks, and Sectoral Index Trends

Key stock movements and index performances across sectors included:

• Heavyweight Stock Movements: Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.73, while Tenaga Nasional dropped 10 sen to RM13.14. Maybank, CIMB, and IHH Healthcare traded flat at RM9.97, RM7.15, and RM7.99, respectively.
• Top Market Gainers: Energy and industrial counters led early advances, with MISC jumping 21 sen to RM8.46, Petronas Chemicals adding nine sen to RM4.58, and MHC Plantations advancing five sen to RM1.75. Hengyuan Refining Company and Suria Capital gained four sen each to RM4.09 and RM1.16, respectively.
• Top Market Decliners: Financial and plantation counters faced selling pressure, led by LPI Capital trimming 32 sen to RM12.94, Batu Kawan losing 30 sen to RM19.00, United Plantations shedding 18 sen to RM30.14, Vitrox Corporation falling 16 sen to RM10.42, and MI Technovation declining 12 sen to RM6.26.
• Active Counters: Zetrix AI rose 1.5 sen to 6.5 sen, while WTS Capital slipped half a sen to 17 sen. GIIB Holdings, Kinergy Advancement, and Compugates Holdings remained unchanged at 71.5 sen, 37.5 sen, and 1 sen, respectively.
• Broad & Sectoral Indices: The FBM Emas Index fell 15.37 points to 11,949.13, the FBM Top 100 Index shed 14.01 points to 11,755.82, the FBM Mid 70 Index decreased 46.27 points to 17,072.09, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 31.59 points to 5,291.91. Bucking the downward trend, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 21.44 points to 11,910.54. Sector-wise, the Energy Index rose 0.11 points to 831.91, while the Financial Services Index dropped 0.22 points to 18,604.78, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.12 points to 175.33, and the Plantation Index lost 23.69 points to 8,638.98.

–NMT