Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower On Higher US Yields, West Asia Tensions

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1  – Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Thursday morning, tracking a mixed overnight performance on Wall Street as rising US Treasury yields and persistent geopolitical tensions in West Asia dampened investor appetite.

At 9:10 AM, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.74 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 1,647.43 compared to Wednesday’s closing level of 1,651.17.

The key index opened 1.30 points lower at 1,649.87.

Market breadth across the broader market was negative, with decliners outpacing gainers 200 to 142, while 307 counters traded unchanged, 2,124 untraded, and 12 suspended. Early turnover reached 246.59 million shares valued at RM118.14 million.

Heavyweights and Active Counters

Financial and utility heavyweights dragged on the benchmark index during early trade:

• Public Bank fell 3 sen to RM4.67.
• Tenaga Nasional lost 2 sen to RM12.94.
• CIMB shed 1 sen to RM7.78.
• Maybank and IHH Healthcare traded flat at RM9.90 and RM7.83, respectively.

In active trading, ACE Market debutant GB Bond fell half a sen to 24.5 sen, while VS Industry traded unchanged at 28 sen. Divfex gained 2 sen to 11 sen, Jaks Resources rose 1 sen to 21.5 sen, and Astro Malaysia added half a sen to 6 sen.

Energy and consumer-linked stocks featured among the top gainers:

• Keck Seng advanced 11 sen to RM5.14.
• Petron Malaysia picked up 7 sen to RM3.47.
• Hengyuan Refining and Spritzer each rose 6 sen to RM3.62 and RM3.67, respectively.
• Jati Tinggi gained 5 sen to RM1.44.

Plantation and technology counters led early losses:

• Kuala Lumpur Kepong dropped 18 sen to RM22.02.
• UWC shed 15 sen to RM6.92.
• Insights Analytics and MISC each declined 9 sen to RM1.20 and RM7.55, respectively.
• Petronas Dagangan lost 8 sen to RM19.20.

Index and Sectoral Trends

Sectoral performance was mostly lower, with financial and plantation stocks leading the decline while energy counters bucked the trend:

• The Plantation Index retreated 33.34 points to 9,163.33.
• The Financial Services Index dropped 27.47 points to 19,189.02.
• The Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.10 of a point to 180.31.
• The Energy Index rose 1.41 points to 847.11.

Across broader index boards:

• The FBM Mid 70 Index dropped 42.26 points to 17,532.41.
• The FBM Emas Index fell 26.32 points to 12,265.69.
• The FBM Top 100 Index lost 27.82 points to 12,056.62.
• The FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 22.09 points to 12,154.26.
• The FBM ACE Index trimmed 6.31 points to 5,527.97.

–NMT