Bursa opens lower amid high oil prices, AI uncertainty
Bursa Malaysia’s key index opened lower on Tuesday after closing at an intraday high on Monday, weighed down by elevated crude oil prices and US bond yields, while a dispute over artificial intelligence (AI) development added to market uncertainty.
At 9.10am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 6.74 points, or 0.39%, to 1,691.27 from Monday’s close of 1,698.01.
The index opened 3.10 points lower at 1,694.91.
Market breadth was almost equal, with gainers leading losers 180 to 179. A total of 302 counters were unchanged, 2,182 untraded and 13 suspended.
Turnover stood at 268.38 million shares worth RM116.80 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said sentiment was dampened by oil prices nearing US$107 per barrel as hopes for a West Asia breakthrough faded after a planned Iran-Gulf meeting on the Strait of Hormuz was postponed abruptly.
The stockbroking firm, in a note, also said American AI safety and research company Anthropic chief executive officer Dario Amodei yesterday warned that the AI industry must deliberately slow its pace of development to give safety measures and oversight time to catch up.
Amodei urged the industry to ease advanced models’ developmental pace and strengthen safeguards, including conducting independent evaluations.
He also raised concerns that a broader reassessment of the investment cycle, particularly in chips, data centres and infrastructure, which could delay returns and weigh on valuations.
Among other heavyweights, Maybank and IHH both remained unchanged at RM10.46 and RM7.76, respectively. Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.84, while CIMB and Tenaga Nasional fell two sen each to RM7.75 and RM13.62, respectively.
As for the top actives, Zetrix AI added two sen to 26.5 sen, MQ Technology gained half a sen to six sen, Butterfield dropped 3.5 sen to 44.5 sen, Top Glove fell 2.5 sen to 80.5 sen, and Ni Hsin inched down half a sen to 28.5 sen.
Among the top gainers, Kelington and Westports firmed 18 sen each to RM8.80 and RM6.90, respectively. Allianz expanded 12 sen to RM21, while Paragon Union and Frontken Corporation both strengthened 10 sen to RM1.50 and RM4.91, respectively.
Of the top losers, Petronas Gas weakened 26 sen to RM17.14, Petronas Chemicals declined 15 sen to RM5.12, Kuala Lumpur Kepong lost 10 sen to RM22.40, IOI Corporation contracted seven sen to RM4.86 and Kerjaya Prospek reduced five sen to RM3.43.
On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index inched up 8.22 points to 17,698.31, while the FBM ACE Index recovered 13.19 points to 5,228.82.
The FBM Emas Index slid 32.06 points to 12,527.85, the FBM Top 100 Index erased 35.29 points to 12,325.05, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 9.21 points to 12,403.56.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.46 of a point to 188.74, and the Energy Index gained 0.91 of a point to 815.83.
The Financial Services Index slid 94.34 points to 19,697.23, and the Plantation Index decreased 39.84 points to 9,496.45.
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