Bursa Malaysia Opens Lower As Investors Take Profits Amid US-Iran Talks
By Fatin Umairah Abdul Hamid
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened lower on Wednesday as investors took profits in selected heavyweights, paring recent gains amid ongoing United States-Iran talks.
Early market performance also tracked the mixed trend on Wall Street, where the Nasdaq hit an intraday high as buying interest was mainly concentrated in technology stocks.
At 9.10 am, the benchmark index eased 5.98 points or 0.35 per cent to 1,677.52 from Tuesday’s close of 1,683.50.
The index opened 1.31 points lower at 1,682.19.
Market breadth was nearly even, with losers edging out gainers 186 to 174. A total of 306 counters were unchanged, 2,205 untraded and 27 suspended.
Turnover stood at 227.52 million shares worth RM119.54 million.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that talks with Iran had gained momentum and could lead to a deal, while warning that the US could take further military action against Iranian nuclear facilities if necessary.
Trump also said oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz had increased significantly since the war began, and expressed hope that the situation with Iran could end after the US midterm elections in November or potentially earlier.
He made the remarks during a multilateral meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Turkiye on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research Thong Pak Leng said continued progress in US-Iran talks had weighed on crude oil prices, providing some relief to market sentiment.
At the time of writing, benchmark Brent crude oil eased 0.08 per cent to US$99.17 per barrel.
Domestically, Thong said the FBM KLCI extended its rebound above the 1,680 level, underpinned by broad-based bargain-hunting despite the Bank of Japan’s 25-basis-point interest rate hike.
“Therefore, we expect buying interest to persist, buoyed by Brent crude oil prices trending at around US$98 per barrel.
“As such, we envisage the index to hover within the 1,680-1,700 range today,” he said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 10 sen to RM10.22, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare eased one sen each to RM4.83 and RM7.99, CIMB fell eight sen to RM7.82, and Tenaga Nasional added six sen to RM13.16.
As for the top actives, Zetrix AI and Kinergy Advancement both shed half a sen to 20 sen and 40 sen, respectively, Aimax increased half a sen to 1.5 sen, Capital A were flat at 27 sen, and Sunway Healthcare decreased seven sen to RM2.10.
Among the top gainers, KESM Industries was 26 sen higher at RM4.27, MISC advanced 13 sen to RM8.08, Petronas Gas firmed 12 sen to RM17.40, Samaiden expanded seven sen to RM2.41, and Solarvest grew six sen to RM3.76.
Of the top losers, United Plantations dropped 24 sen to RM33.30, Hengyuan Refining was 12 sen lower at RM4.18, while UWC, Vitrox and Petron lost eight sen each to RM6.58, RM9.92 and RM3.82.
On the index board, the FBM Mid 70 Index was down by 29.90 points to 17,814.51, the FBM Emas Index declined 35.98 points to 12,478.15, the FBM Top 100 Index inched down 37.78 points to 12,270.10, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 1.01 points to 12,327.39, while the FBM ACE Index advanced 10.21 points to 5,379.32.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved off 0.30 of a point to 184.60, and the Energy Index contracted 2.74 points to 841.91.
The Financial Services Index narrowed 152.34 points to 19,582.34, and the Plantation Index trimmed 2.85 points to 9,453.16.
-- BERNAMA