KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower on Wednesday as investors continued to take profit after its recent rally, while high crude oil prices and lingering Middle East tensions kept sentiment cautious, an analyst said. At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell nine points, or 0.52%, to 1,711.37 from Tuesday’s close of 1,720.37. Meanwhile, regional markets ended mixed as sentiment remained fragile, with elevated crude oil prices continuing to weigh on risk appetite after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels threatened to widen the conflict in the Middle East.
Brent crude oil rose above US$94 per barrel after two tankers carrying Saudi crude reportedly reversed course in the Red Sea, underscoring the growing risk of disruptions to regional shipping routes, said Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng. On the domestic front, he told Bernama that the recent pullback is a healthy consolidation following the FBM KLCI’s strong advance from around 1,655 to 1,735. “The sell-off may present bargain-hunting opportunities in fundamentally sound large-cap stocks, particularly as resilient domestic fundamentals and renewed foreign fund inflows continue to underpin the broader recovery.
“However, geopolitical uncertainties and volatile oil prices are likely to keep trading sentiment cautious,” he said. Hence, Thong expects the benchmark index to remain range-bound between 1,705 and 1,730 for the remainder of the week, with selective interest likely to centre on banking, energy, plantation, and other defensive counters. The index opened 0.53 points easier at 1,719.84, and moved between 1,709.15 and 1,721.31 throughout the day.
On the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 590 to 450, while 596 counters were unchanged, 1,111 untraded, and 23 suspended. Turnover narrowed to 3.43 billion units valued at RM2.50 billion from 3.48 billion units valued at RM2.79 billion on Tuesday. Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank slipped eight sen to RM10.94, Public Bank shed five sen to RM5.15, Tenaga Nasional slid 28 sen to RM14.28, CIMB trimmed two sen to RM7.66, and IHH Healthcare shaved off 17 sen to RM8.33.
Among active stocks, Aimax and Nexgram Holdings inched up half a sen each to 1.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively, and Aimflex added three sen to 12 sen. Zetrix AI eased 1.5 sen to 71.5 sen, and Tanco Holdings decreased one sen to …
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