Bursa Malaysia traded flat at midday as moderate selling pressure continued to weigh on investor sentiment, which remains cautious regarding US-Iran diplomatic negotiations, high oil prices, and rising bond yields.
At 12:30 PM, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dipped 0.69 points to 1,671.62, having opened 0.93 points higher at 1,672.55.
The index traded within a range of 1,668.61 to 1,674.11 throughout the morning session.
Selling Pressure Dominates
Market sentiment remained weak, with 667 counters declining against 320 gainers; 469 counters remained unchanged, 1,468 were untraded, and 91 were suspended.
Trading volume reached 1.85 billion shares valued at RM1.15 billion.
Hong Leong Investment Bank noted that persistent foreign fund outflows, the risk of weaker second-half earnings, household affordability pressures due to persistently high costs, and global supply chain disruptions could continue to weigh on local market sentiment.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade expects the FBM KLCI to remain in a consolidation phase, given the absence of clear shifts in regional fund flows.
Mixed Performance Among Heavyweights
Among the heavyweights, CIMB rose 6 sen to RM7.96, while Tenaga Nasional gained 4 sen to RM13.18. Conversely, Maybank fell 2 sen to RM10.20, Public Bank dropped 1 sen to RM4.79, and IHH Healthcare declined 3 sen to RM8.00.
Among the active counters, Zetrix AI and Aimax remained unchanged at 19 sen and 0.5 sen, respectively. Jaks Resources rose 1 sen to 18 sen, while the new ACE Market listing Evocom fell 4.5 sen to 13.5 sen. Meanwhile, Inari Amertron dropped 12 sen to RM2.54.
Nestle Among Gainers
Among the counters recording gains, Nestle added 18 sen to RM90.38, Hong Leong Bank rose 16 sen to RM23.30, and Solarvest increased 13 sen to RM4.19.
Kuala Lumpur Kepong and MISC each gained 10 sen, reaching RM22.62 and RM7.95, respectively.
On the list of losers, Malaysia Pacific Industries fell RM1.38 to RM42.80, followed by United Plantations, which dropped 56 sen to RM32.02.
Fraser & Neave fell 20 sen to RM22.60, Kelington declined 24 sen to RM8.75, and UWS dropped 21 sen to RM6.67.
Most Indices in the Red
Regarding indices, the FBM Mid 70 fell 133.83 points to 17,711.08, while the FBM Emas declined 28.13 points to 12,428.51. The FBM Top 100 fell 23.72 points to 12,219.73, and the FBM Emas Shariah dropped 45.10 points to 12,261.13. Meanwhile, the FBM ACE declined 30.21 points to 5,502.65.
By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 1.35 points to 182.75, while the Energy Index decreased 0.52 points to 861.31.
Conversely, the Financial Services Index rose 38.50 points to 19,588.99, while the Plantation Index declined 32.89 points to 9,301.98.
