FBM KLCI EDGES LOWER BUT HOLDS ABOVE 1,700 IN EARLY SESSION

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia eased in early trade today after touching its highest level in more than six years, weighed by negative sentiment following Wall Street’s overnight performance, though the benchmark index remained above the 1,700 level.

At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 3.25 points to 1,704.95 from Tuesday’s close of 1,708.20, after opening 2.32 points lower at 1,705.88.

Market breadth was negative, with decliners edging advancers 125 to 118. A total of 285 counters were unchanged, 2,111 untraded, and 12 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 106.31 million shares valued at RM60.03 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street closed lower as sentiment was affected by the heightening uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s recent proposals on capping credit card rates for one year, in addition to the criminal proceedings against the US Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powell.

On the domestic front, Thong said buying interest in blue-chip stocks will persist for now, before broadening to smaller-cap stocks.

“For today, we expect the index to hover within the 1,705-1,720 range,” he told Bernama. 

Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank dropped eight sen to RM10.98, CIMB fell six sen to RM8.32, and IHH was one sen lower at RM8.53. Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional were flat at RM4.64 and RM13.80, respectively.

On the most active list, Ingenieur inched up half-a-sen to four sen and Capital A increased two sen to 46 sen. MMAG, TWL and Zetrix AI were flat at 5.5 sen, 2.5 sen and 82 sen, respectively.

Among top gainers, Hong Leong Industries soared 10 sen to RM17.10, RHB and Hong Leong Financial gained eight sen each to RM8.13 and RM20.18, respectively, UWC rose six sen to RM4.41, and IJM bagged four sen to RM2.78.

Top decliners saw Nestle and Pintaras fall by six sen to RM119.20 and RM1.44, respectively. Mulpha decreased five sen to RM2.86, Spritzer and Westports eased four sen each to RM2.98 and RM5.61, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals lost three sen to RM3.24.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index fell 15.05 points to 12,575.36, the FBM Top 100 Index dropped 16.66 points to 12,368.31, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 9.55 points to 12,305.27.

The FBM Mid 70 Index climbed 7.54 points to 17,535.36, while the FBM ACE Index inched up 0.16 of-a-point to 4,982.43.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index reduced 37.99 points to 20,380.33, the Energy Index rose 1.66 points to 787.87, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.03 of-a-point to 173.82, and the Plantation Index slid 2.06 points to 8,558.62.

-- BERNAMA