KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened slightly lower on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street’s decline as sentiment turned cautious following weak US economic data and tariff announcements by President Donald Trump on the semiconductor and pharmaceutical sectors.
At 9.10 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.16 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 1,537.48 from Tuesday’s close of 1,538.64.
The benchmark index had earlier opened 0.72 of a point lower at 1,537.92.
Market breadth was negative, with 197 decliners outpacing 98 gainers. Another 287 counters were unchanged, 1,920 untraded, and seven suspended.
Turnover stood at 168.44 million shares worth RM82.74 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local bourse mirrored the weakness on Wall Street, where sentiment turned cautious following weaker-than-expected US job market data.
“The situation worsened after Trump mentioned that separate tariffs would soon be imposed on both the semiconductor and pharmaceutical sectors.
“Nonetheless, we believe overall sentiment remains positive and expect the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,535–1,550 range today,” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank rose 10 sen each to RM9.67 and RM4.25, respectively. IHH Healthcare added three sen to RM6.88, CIMB was unchanged at RM6.75, while Tenaga Nasional fell four sen to RM13.24.
On the actively traded list, NexG eased half-a-sen to 53 sen, Top Glove dropped 2.5 sen to 61 sen, and Hartalega declined six sen to RM1.26. Harvest Miracle Capital and Pharmaniaga gained half-a-sen each to 16.5 sen and 19 sen, respectively.
On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index fell 18.35 points to 11,523.62, the FBMT 100 Index declined 16.74 points to 11,289.92, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 31.83 points to 11,537.17.
The FBM 70 Index dropped 60.50 points to 16,606.25, while the FBM ACE Index edged down 0.60 of a point to 4,630.86.
By sector, the Financial Services Index added 18.17 points to 17,466.63. The Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.93 of a point to 158.47, the Energy Index fell 0.39 of a point to 740.01, and the Plantation Index declined 9.23 points to 7,354.12. - Bernama
