BURSA MALAYSIA SLIPS AS PROFIT-TAKING HITS HEAVYWEIGHT COUNTERS, CI DOWN 0.33 PCT

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session in negative territory, weighed down by continued profit-taking in most heavyweight counters.

At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.53 points or 0.33 per cent to 1,705.28, compared to Wednesday’s close of 1,710.91.

The market barometer, which opened 0.56 of-a-point lower at 1,710.35, oscillated between 1,701.83 and 1,710.35 during the session.

Market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering gainers 562 to 372, while 527 counters were unchanged, 1,177 untraded and 21 suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.99 billion shares valued at RM1.48 billion.

In a note today, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said it anticipates some profit-taking in the local bourse after its recent extended rally, following Wall Street’s negative overnight performance.

“Nevertheless, we believe the support should be located above the 1,700 level.

“In terms of sectors, we expect the utilities sector to remain a key focus in 2026 as the ongoing data centre boom will require vast amounts of water for server cooling, which could reignite buying interest in stocks such as Ranhill Utilities Bhd,” it said.

Of the 30 heavyweight counters, only eight advanced, three remained unchanged, while the rest declined.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank decreased four sen to RM11, and IHH dropped one sen to RM8.44. Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.69, and CIMB was three sen higher at RM8.38, while Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM13.82.

On the most active list, VS Industry, Capital A and Zetrix AI were flat at 48.5 sen, 54.5 sen and 83 sen, respectively, while Northeast slipped 12 sen to 59 sen and Tanco added one sen to RM1.24.

Top gainers Greatech and Malaysian Pacific jumped 28 sen each to RM1.75 and RM33.08, respectively, Westports was 24 sen higher at RM5.88, Hong Leong Financial rose 20 sen to RM20.62, and KLCC increased 19 sen to RM9.45.

Leading decliners included Nestle, which slid RM2.10 to RM116.40, while United Plantations slipped 62 sen to RM32.88, Frase & Neave dropped 36 sen to RM36, Petronas Dagangan trimmed 34 sen to RM20.66, and KL Kepong lost 16 sen to RM20.42.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index shed 26.93 points to 12,599.53, the FBM Top 100 Index fell 24.37 points to 12,389.37, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index shaved 45.93 points to 12,301.65.

The FBM Mid 70 Index gained 39.46 points to 17,648.98, while the FBM ACE Index shed 34.62 points to 4,951.33.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 15.57 points to 20,499.66, while the Energy Index dwindled 3.24 points to 786.38, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.79 of-a-point to 174.04, and the Plantation Index sank 84.37 points to 8,444.33.

-- BERNAMA