Bursa Malaysia opens lower on Wall Street weakness, hawkish fed remarks

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Thursday, tracking weaker Wall Street performance amid rising US Treasury yields and hawkish remarks from US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials.

At 9.10 am, the benchmark index eased 2.59 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 1,673.84 from Wednesday's close of 1,676.43.

The index opened 1.98 points lower at 1,674.45.

Market breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 259 to 134. A total of 269 counters were unchanged, while 2,239 were untraded and 27 suspended.

Turnover stood at 259.94 million shares worth RM101.64 million.

Berjaya Research Sdn Bhd head of research Kenneth Leong said recent remarks by US Fed Governor Michael Barr on the future direction of interest rates, which triggered renewed volatility on Wall Street overnight, could weigh on Bursa Malaysia today.

"Meanwhile, investors are likely to adopt a wait-and-see approach ahead of the US-China summit later today for potential developments on trade between the two economic powers.

"The broader market is poised for some consolidation following its recent gains, as investors may lock in profits while awaiting fresh catalysts," he told Bernama.

Nonetheless, Leong said continued rotation into lagging lower-liners could offer near-term trading opportunities, while higher oil prices may spur renewed interest in oil and gas-related stocks.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was unchanged at RM10.14, while Public Bank eased three sen to RM4.80, CIMB lost two sen to RM7.91, Tenaga Nasional added two sen to RM13.16 and IHH Healthcare rose 14 sen to RM8.14.

Among the most actively traded counters, Zetrix AI dropped 1.5 sen to 17 sen, Aimax rose half a sen to 1.5 sen and Computer Forms recovered one sen to 10 sen, while GIIB and Velesto Energy were unchanged at 59 sen and 23 sen, respectively.

Among the top gainers, Hengyuan Refining rose 17 sen to RM4.64, Petronas Chemicals and MNRB each gained 12 sen to RM4.61 and RM2.95, respectively, Sarawak Oil Palms advanced 10 sen to RM5.95 and Petron added eight sen to RM3.80.

Among the top losers, Nestle fell 46 sen to RM89.04, Kuala Lumpur Kepong declined 20 sen to RM22.30, Malaysian Pacific Industries shed 14 sen to RM44.44, MI Technovation lost 11 sen to RM6.02 and Petronas Dagangan slipped 10 sen to RM19.90.

On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index fell 61.14 points to 17,772.66, the FBM Emas Index declined 23.92 points to 12,453.43, the FBM Top 100 Index eased 24.86 points to 12,242.73, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 13.02 points to 12,307.20, and the FBM ACE Index shed 27.60 points to 5,399.81.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.23 of a point to 185.18, while the Energy Index slipped 0.49 of a point to 849.96.

The Financial Services Index fell 45.13 points to 19,532.64, while the Plantation Index shed 7.77 points to 9,402.03.