BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS HIGHER, TRACKS REGIONAL RALLY AS OIL PRICES EASE

By Siti Noor Afera Abu

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia rebounded to close higher on Wednesday, tracking gains across regional markets as a sharp pullback in oil prices helped boost overall market sentiment, analysts said.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 7.92 points or 0.46 per cent to 1,716.68 from Tuesday’s close of 1,708.76.

The market bellwether opened 13.74 points higher at 1,722.50, and moved between 1,711.90 and 1,725.93 throughout the day.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 559 to 523. A total of 488 counters were unchanged, 1,180 untraded and 24 suspended.

Turnover decreased to 2.90 billion units worth RM3.26 billion from yesterday’s 3.35 billion units worth RM4.03 billion.

IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan noted that Brent crude fell more than five per cent following reports of a possible US-drafted ceasefire proposal involving Iran, a move that helped ease immediate concerns about a supply shock.

He said that when oil prices declined sharply, it tends to quickly translate into lower inflation expectations and reduces pressure on the global policy outlook, giving equities more room to advance.

“From a macro perspective, what we are seeing now is more of a pullback in the geopolitical risk premium rather than a genuine improvement in fundamentals. Oil is still flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, which suggests that disruption risks are being managed, but not eliminated.

“So while the market is holding up for now, it remains very much driven by headlines. Any shift in oil prices or geopolitical developments could quickly change the tone,” he told Bernama.

Echoing a similar view, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said that on the domestic front, the index’s firm hold above the 1,700 psychological support level signals that the broader uptrend remains intact.

“The near-term outlook points to cautious consolidation with a positive bias, with the index likely to fluctuate within the 1,690–1,730 range for the remainder of the week,” he said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 10 sen to RM11.44, Public Bank increased seven sen to RM4.93, CIMB added six sen to RM7.89, Tenaga Nasional gained 14 sen to RM14.42, and IHH Healthcare perked up one sen to RM8.99.

On the most active list, Zetrix AI edged up 1.5 sen to 75 sen, Sunway Healthcare increased 12 sen to RM2.12, AirAsia X garnered seven sen to RM1.24, while Borneo Oil and V.S. Industry were flat at half-a-sen and 28.5 sen respectively. 

Top gainers included UMS Integration, which jumped 31 sen to RM4.91, Concrete Engineering surged 27 sen to RM1.99, Hong Leong Financial gained 26 sen to RM19.56, Press Metal put on 24 sen to RM7.55, and Ajinomoto climbed 14 sen to RM12.38. 

As for top losers, Nestle slid 44 sen to RM98.0, Petronas Chemicals fell 34 sen to RM5.46, United Plantations and Kuala Lumpur Kepong declined 22 sen each to RM33.60 and RM19.60, respectively, and Petron Malaysia slipped 15 sen to RM4.46.

On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index increased 52.26 points to 12,335.93, the FBM Emas Index put on 53.03 points to 12,474.84, the FBM 70 Index rose 51.50 points to 16,963.76, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 22.87 points to 12,194.49, and the FBM ACE Index climbed 50.37 points to 4,370.30.

By sector, the Financial Services Index jumped 188.68 points to 20,569.62, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.53 of-a-point to 180.12, the Energy Index shaved off 2.64 points to 785.36, and the Plantation Index shed 59.02 points to 8,579.45.

The Main Market volume declined to 1.69 billion units valued at RM3.02 billion from 2.22 billion units valued at RM3.82 billion on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover expanded to 964.64 million units worth RM139.07 million from 872.86 million units worth RM120.07 million previously. 

The ACE Market volume trimmed to 249.04 million units valued at RM91.93 million from 260.98 million units valued at RM82.34 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 230.43 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (287.41 million), construction (183.44 million), technology (235.36 million), financial services (111.86 million), property (137.12 million), plantation (34.17 million), real estate investment trusts (30.76 million), closed-end fund (8,000), energy (167.88 million), healthcare (174.44 million), telecommunications and media (43.52 million), transportation and logistics (26.27 million), utilities (31.28 million), and business trusts (245,500).

-- BERNAMA