Bursa closes lower ahead of holiday period

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower on Tuesday as investors squared positions ahead of the long holiday period amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran.

The market will be closed tomorrow in conjunction with the Aidiladha public holiday.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 9.48 points, or 0.56%, to 1,699.02 from yesterday’s close of 1,708.50.

IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Sedek Jantan said the benchmark index fell below the psychological 1,700-point level today as geopolitical risk aversion intensified following fresh US strikes on Iran.

The new attack has undermined earlier hopes of a possible reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, reigniting concerns over global energy security, he said.

“Following the attack, Brent crude futures rose sharply by 3.9% to US$99.89 per barrel, adding to fears that elevated oil prices could complicate the global disinflation process and reinforce a higher-for-longer interest rate environment across major economies,” he told Bernama.

Despite a softer, broader market, Sedek said Bursa’s technology index continued to outperform, rising 0.9% today and more than 30% year-to-date, broadly tracking the sustained rally across regional and global semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI)-linked equities.

The benchmark index opened 1.73 points lower at 1,706.77 and traded between 1,696.14 and 1,707.52 throughout the session.

Market breadth was negative, with losers outpacing gainers 695 to 413, while 570 counters were unchanged, 1,009 untraded and 67 suspended.

Turnover rose to 3.24 billion units valued at RM3.72 billion, compared with 3.06 billion units valued at RM3.17 billion on Monday.

Among the heavyweights, Public Bank gained 4 sen to RM4.80, IHH Healthcare rose 2 sen to RM8.98, while Maybank fell 12 sen to RM10.94, Tenaga Nasional gave up 30 sen to RM14.16, and CIMB shed five sen to RM7.68.

As for the active stocks, Zetrix AI edged up 1 sen to 81.5 sen, Inari Amertron increased 24 sen to RM2.22, Oppstar strengthened 3.5 sen to 67 sen, while Skychip erased 3 sen to RM2.89, and YTL Corp was 5 sen lower at RM1.46.

Among the top gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries advanced RM1.14 to RM49.14, Allianz Malaysia jumped 62 sen to RM21.42, Kuala Lumpur Kepong put on 42 sen to RM20.34, and Unisem rose 25 sen to RM5.10.

Of the top losers, Nestle slid 82 sen to RM94.98, VSTECS fell 32 sen to RM5.79, Fraser & Neave tumbled 30 sen to RM28.50, and Hong Leong Industries lost 26 sen to RM18.52.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 64.46 points to 12,615.88, the FBM Top 100 Index trimmed 60.95 points to 12,457.59, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shrank 78.0 points to 12,529.84, the FBM Mid 70 Index declined 52.52 points to 18,214.37, and the FBM ACE Index shed 10.23 points to 4,711.49.

Sector-wise, the industrial products and services index notched up 0.31 of a point to 198.03, the energy index was 0.89 points higher to 786.81, the plantation index increased 9.01 points to 8,535.28, while the financial services index lost 42.60 points to 19,968.95.

The Main Market volume inched down to 1.78 billion units valued at RM3.41 billion from 1.82 billion units valued at RM2.89 billion on Monday.

Warrants turnover advanced to 981.14 million units valued at RM133.62 million from 600.76 million units valued at RM66.21 million previously.

The ACE Market volume tumbled to 471.50 million units, valued at RM167.37 million, from 639.99 million units, valued at RM208.80 million, yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 201.92 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (335.91 million), construction (115.86 million), technology (472.06 million), financial services (70.49 million), property (146.46 million), plantation (34.38 million), real estate investment trusts (17.23 million), closed-end fund (8,100), energy (118.87 million), healthcare (109.93 million), telecommunications and media (56.03 million), transportation and logistics (34.19 million), utilities (68.63 million), and business trusts (94,500).

المصدر: Free Malaysia Today