Bursa Malaysia Retreats in Early Trade as Profit-Taking Offsets Wall Street Gains

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher on Friday morning before retreating into negative territory as profit-taking in industrial products and construction counters capped gains, despite an overnight rally on Wall Street.

At 9.06 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.05 points to 1,731.66 from Thursday’s close of 1,734.71. The key index had opened 0.01 of a point higher at 1,734.72.

Market breadth remained positive in early trade, with gainers outpacing losers 166 to 139, while 289 counters were unchanged, 2,234 untraded, and 28 suspended. Total market turnover stood at 192.50 million shares valued at RM68.46 million.

In a market commentary today, research house Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd noted that US equities closed broadly higher overnight, buoyed by cooler-than-expected Producer Price Index (PPI) data. The softer inflation metric is expected to give the US Federal Reserve additional justification to maintain interest rates at its upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in September.

“Overall, we believe investors are still in a cautious mode. Hence, we expect the FBM KLCI index to trend within the 1,730-1,740 range today,” Rakuten Trade stated.

Among index heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) slipped two sen to RM10.58, while Public Bank Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, and IHH Healthcare Bhd traded flat at RM5.16, RM7.95, RM14.50, and RM8.27, respectively.

On the most active list, HHRG Bhd inched down 2.5 sen to 13 sen, while Scope Industries Bhd gained one sen to nine sen. Nexgram Holdings Bhd, TWL Holdings Bhd, and Key ASIC Bhd each rose half a sen to 6.5 sen, 2.5 sen, and 8.5 sen, respectively.

Leading the top gainers, UMS Integration Ltd surged 58 sen to RM9.03, ViTrox Corporation Bhd advanced 15 sen to RM9.55, LPI Capital Bhd added 14 sen to RM15.22, Hong Leong Bank Bhd gained 12 sen to RM22.46, and UWC Bhd put on eight sen to RM6.63.

Conversely, top losers included Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, which dropped 10 sen to RM4.45, and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, which fell six sen to RM7.92. Gamuda Bhd and Timberwell Bhd both shed five sen to RM4.47 and RM1.85, respectively, while Sunway Bhd declined four sen to RM5.16.

Across broader indices, the FBM ACE Index rose 14.93 points to 5,259.58, and the FBM 70 Index inched up 3.27 points to 18,333.49. However, the FBM Emas Index depreciated 14.14 points to 12,844.40, the FBMT 100 Index slid 16.10 points to 12,656.60, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 21.36 points to 12,673.62.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index slipped 3.92 points to 779.40, the Financial Services Index shed 0.38 of a point to 20,356.63, the Plantation Index lost 20.21 points to 9,353.45, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.55 points to 188.93.

–NMT