Prolintas Group

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Monday, catching up with regional markets that rallied last Friday.

At 9.21am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.06 points to 1,582.21 from last Thursday’s close of 1,578.15.

The index began the session 3.07 points firmer at 1,581.22.

Market breadth was positive, with 283 gainers and 151 decliners, while 340 counters were unchanged. Another 2,568 were untraded and eight suspended.

The local bourse was closed on Friday for the Maulidur Rasul holiday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI ended last week on a flat note during a short trading week with muted buying support.

He said that the barometer index is expected to play catch-up with the strong regional performance last Friday and hover within the 1,580-1,595 range.

“We noticed that although the recently concluded earnings season had been decent, most research houses prefer to remain cautious. Hence, the KLCI is expected to trend between 1,620 and 1,690 by end-2025,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose one sen to RM10.00, Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.29, Tenaga Nasional added 10 sen to RM13.16, while IHH Healthcare and Press Metal were flat at RM6.91 and RM5.58, respectively. CIMB eased five sen to RM7.25.

In active trade, Jaks advanced 0.5 sen to 10.5 sen, NexG was one sen higher at 49 sen, while Velesto and Wawasan Dengkil both gained 0.5 sen to 21 sen and 26 sen, respectively.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index added 35.15 points to 11,750.44, the FBMT 100 Index gained 32.72 points to 11,516.88, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 45.73 points to 11,721.25.

The FBM 70 Index climbed 60.87 points to 16,495.58, while the FBM ACE Index was 12.68 points higher at 4,751.41.

By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.53 of 1.0 point to 163.52, the Plantation Index advanced 16.22 points to 7,620.65, and the Financial Services Index gained 29.35 points to 18,143.79. The Energy Index eased 1.59 points to 742.03.

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit closed slightly lower against the US dollar today following a 0.1% rise in the US Dollar Index (DXY) to 98.245 points despite a weaker-than-expected job openings report in the US, said an analyst.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said market attention is now on the ADP employment change report, which measures private-sector job creation in the US, with consensus expectations at 65,000 new jobs in August compared with 104,000 in the previous month.

“Initial jobless claims were expected to edge slightly higher to 230,000 last week from 229,000 the week before.

“In a sense, traders and markets can agree that signs of economic weakness in the US are becoming clearer,” he told Bernama.

He said the case for an interest rate cut has therefore become more compelling, with futures pricing now showing a more than 90% probability of a rate reduction.

“However, the US dollar seems to gain some strength. On that note, traders and investors are likely to be more guarded as the nonfarm payrolls (NFP) data point could surprise on the upside this Friday,” he added.

At 6pm, the local currency eased to 4.2260/4.2320 from yesterday’s close of 4.2230/4.2285.

At the close, the ringgit was mostly lower against major currencies.

It rose against the euro to 4.9203/4.9273 from 4.9223/4.9287, but slipped versus the yen to 2.8489/2.8531 from 2.8430/2.8469 and reduced against the pound to 5.6793/5.6874 from 5.6614/5.6687.

Against Asean currencies, the ringgit was also mostly lower, except for a slight strengthening against the Singapore dollar to 3.2775/3.2824 from 3.2777/3.2822 previously.

The local currency eased against the Thai baht to 13.0666/13.0908 from 13.0529/13.0759, was marginally lower versus the Indonesian rupiah at 257.3/257.7 from 257.2/257.7, and slipped against the Philippine peso to 7.40/7.42 from 7.37/7.38.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia retreated in early trade due to profit-taking amid a lack of fresh local catalysts, despite the positive performance on Wall Street overnight.

At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 2.16 points to 1,584.91 after closing at 1,587.07 yesterday. The index opened 0.24 of-a-point lower at 1,586.83.

In the broader market, decliners beat gainers 223 to 139, while 245 counters were unchanged, with 1,990 untraded and 66 suspended.

Turnover was 243.90 million shares worth RM128.83 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng noted that the S&P 500 touched another record high overnight as traders were convinced that Nvidia’s earnings further affirmed the prevailing artificial intteligence boom, despite with some initial concerns.

“Meanwhile, the US 10-year yield eased to 4.21%, further highlighting the rate cut possibility by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in mid-September,” he added.

Back home, Thong said that despite a rather positive performance throughout the day, the FBM KLCI ended marginally lower yesterday, attributed to last minute selling activities. “We believe this could be due to profit taking by foreign funds. For today, we expect the index to hover in the 1,585-1,595 range ahead of the long weekend,” he added.

Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank shed three sen to RM9.92, Public Bank shaved one sen to RM4.27, and CIMB Group slipped 2.0 sen to RM7.43. Tenaga Nasional eased six sen to RM13.38, while IHH Healthcare added 2.0 sen RM6.81.

In actively traded stocks, Tanco Holdings lost two sen to 70.5 sen, Genetec Technology fell 6.5 sen to 57 sen, while Reneuco and Mtouche Technology edged down half-a-sen to two sen and four sen, respectively. Eversendai added 2.5 sen to 46.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 19.02 points to 11,761.62, the FBMT 100 Index eased 15.02 points to 11,538.27, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 23.21 points to 11,724.58. The FBM 70 Index gave up 18.33 points to 16,533.87, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 16.68 points to 4,725.92.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 29.87 points to 18,145.56, and the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.64 of-a-point to 162.57. The Plantation Index was 2.52 points higher at 7,614.42, and the Energy Index added 1.55 points to 747.60.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower today due to mild profit taking in selected heavyweights after recent gains, amid weaker sentiments on the global economic outlook, a dealer said.

At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 1.16 points to 1,589.08 from yesterday’s close of 1,590.24.

The benchmark index opened 2.21 points lower at 1,588.03.

Market breadth was negative with decliners leading advancers 166 to 145, while 264 counters were unchanged, 2,019 untraded and 16 suspended.

Turnover stood at 123.43 million shares worth RM75.37 million.

In a note, Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the FBMKLCI to trade in a lacklustre tone today, tracking Wall Street’s weaker overnight performance.

“However, buying interest might emerge in domestic-driven consumer-related counters, such as 99SMART and MRDIY, which are expected to benefit from government cash aid and handouts,” it said in a note.

The brokerage firm said the Wall Street closed mostly lower as investors shifted out of significantly overstretched large-cap tech stocks and moved into small caps and value stocks ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting this Friday.

“Traders’ focus this week will be on Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium, where the market is speculating the US Federal Reserve to adopt a more dovish tone and potential rate cut in September, with the probability currently at 86.1%,” it said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank was 3.0 sen higher at RM9.83 and IHH Healthcare added 2.0 sen to RM6.87, while Public Bank slipped 1.0 sen to RM4.45, and both Tenaga Nasional and CIMB fell 2.0 sen each to RM13.70 and RM7.37, respectively.

On the actively traded list, Vantris Energy eased half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, Pestec and Magma trimmed 1.0 sen each to 11.5 sen and 37 sen, respectively, while Tanco was flat at 73 sen.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index shed 9.48 points to 11,802.93, the FBMT 100 Index declined 9.93 points to 11,587.72, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 13.14 points to 11,718.26, and the FBM Mid 70 Index went down 20.95 points to 16,689.02, while the FBM ACE Index earned 0.05 of a point to 4,709.74.

By sector, the Financial Services Index reduced 11.09 points to 18,174.41, the Plantation Index improved 3.59 points to 7,550.07, the Energy Index edged down 0.44 of a point to 749.78, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.12 of a point to 159.