Bursa flat in early trade amid lack of catalysts

Trading in Bursa Malaysia was muted in the early trade on Thursday as investors stayed on the sidelines amid a lack of catalysts.

At 9.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.25 points, or 0.14%, to 1,604.52 from Wednesday’s close of 1,602.27. The index opened 2.49 points higher at 1,604.76.

Across the broader market, advancers edged decliners 188 to 161, while 266 counters were unchanged, 2,285 untraded, and 18 were suspended.

Turnover stood at 202.13 million units worth RM75.98 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said overall sentiment is cautious, as reflected in yesterday’s low trading value of just RM2.58 billion.

“Reflecting the lack of buying conviction, we expect the index to trend between the 1,595-1,610 range today,” he said in a note today.

Among the heavyweight stocks, Maybank added three sen to RM9.98, Public Bank grew two sen to RM4.75, CIMB added one sen to RM7.15, IHH Healthcare was flat at RM7.94 and YTL Power declined one sen to RM5.33.

In active trade, Ace-market debutant RedPlanet jumped eight sen to 27 sen, JAKS rose half-a-sen to 17.5 sen, Zetrix AI was flat at five sen, and Ni Hsin fell half-a-sen to 47 sen.

UWC led the top gainers, rising by 12 sen to RM7.42, Vitrox and Wesports jumped 10 sen each to RM10.78 and RM6.87, respectively, while MISC recovered seven sen to RM8.37.

On the losing side, Kim Loong shed eight sen to RM2.47, PPB slipped five sen to RM8.55, and Binastra and Southern Steel both trimmed four sen to RM2.76 and 42 sen, respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index firmed 12.68 points to 11,968.54, while the FBM Top 100 Index garnered 11.64 points to 11,766.07.

The FBM Mid 70 Index fell 3.23 points to 17,208.37, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 10.22 points higher at 11,921.10, and the FBM ACE Index increased 10.95 points to 5,391.58.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was up by 30.22 points to 18,638.91, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.18 of-a-point to 175.21, the Plantation Index gained 9.57 points to 8,629.69, while the Energy Index rose 0.38 of-a-point to 821.61.

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