KUALA LUMPUR — Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Thursday but retreated into negative territory as investors engaged in profit-taking activity, despite positive cues from Wall Street’s overnight rally.
At around 9:10 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.48 points to 1,744.33, slipping from Wednesday’s close of 1,747.81 after initially opening at 1,749.43. Overall market breadth remained negative, with 215 losers outnumbering 184 gainers, while 290 counters were unchanged. A total of 2,080 counters went untraded, and 165 were suspended during the session. Turnover stood at 225.61 million shares worth RM163.25 million.
Market Sentiment and Analyst Views
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said that despite Wall Street’s continued uptrend — supported by optimism around artificial intelligence (AI) demand — profit-taking at local bourses weighed on sentiment. He noted that retail funds have shown modest inflows over the past two days, pointing to renewed investor interest. However, overall trading value remained subdued, indicating caution among market participants.
“While overall value remains low, the return of retail funds is encouraging. We expect the index to trade between 1,745 and 1,755 today,” Thong told Bernama.
Key Movers on the Board
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank slipped 12 sen to RM12.24, Public Bank inched up one sen to RM4.96, and CIMB Group eased two sen to RM8.45. Tenaga Nasional and IHH Healthcare remained unchanged at RM14.18 and RM9.00 respectively during early trading.
On the most active list, Capital A held steady at 60.5 sen, G3 Global eased half a sen to 1.5 sen, Nationgate fell 7.5 sen to 93.5 sen, NEXG slipped 1.5 sen to 27.5 sen, and Aquawalk retreated four sen to 32 sen.
Gainers and Losers
Top gainers included Nestle, up 50 sen to RM111.00, Sunway Construction rising 25 sen to RM7.15, Kelington up 24 sen to RM5.36, Malaysian Pacific climbing 20 sen to RM32.20, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong gaining 18 sen to RM19.36.
On the downside, Dutch Lady dropped RM1.08 to RM32.00, Petronas Gas loosened 26 sen to RM18.22, Amway fell 22 sen to RM5.15, Telekom Malaysia was down 13 sen to RM7.62, and Hap Seng Plantations dipped 11 sen to RM2.20.
Sector Performance
Across broader benchmarks, the FBMT 100 Index fell 18.64 points to 12,625.53, and the FBM Emas Index lost 20.77 points to 12,802.82. Meanwhile, the FBM 70 Index bucked the trend with a 3.11-point gain to 17,772.19, and the FBM ACE Index rose 6.08 points to 4,808.03.
By sector, trading trends were mixed: the Financial Services Index slid 71.32 points to 21,559.81, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up slightly to 175.85, the Energy Index dipped to 769.30, and the **Plantation Index declined to 8,364.11.
📍 Market Outlook
Despite the profit-taking pressure, analysts believe the retreat represents a normal consolidation phase in a broader uptrend, especially given recent gains and renewed retail participation. Investors remain watchful of corporate earnings season and international market cues, which are likely to influence trading direction in the near term.
