KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia opened lower, reversing the previous day’s gains, as Wall Street weakened after US President Donald Trump intensified his “tariff bullets” against the European Union.
At 9.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 14.24 points to 1,495.79 from yesterday’s close of 1,510.03.
The benchmark index opened 10.08 points lower at 1,499.95.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced advancers 227 to 80, while 196 counters were unchanged, 1,915 untraded, and 13 suspended.
Turnover stood at 96.64 million shares worth RM51.48 million.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the uncertainty had prompted traders to offload US shares due to concerns over potential economic impacts.
Looking ahead, he expects market sentiment to remain cautious as fund managers, adopting a risk-off stance, stay on the sidelines.
“Nonetheless, at current levels, we advocate accumulating blue chips and expect the index to hover within the 1,500-1,520 range today,” he told Bernama.
Among heavyweights, YTL Power added two sen to RM3.01, Press Metal gained one sen to RM4.95, while Maybank fell eight sen to RM10.22. QL Resources and Petronas Gas were flat at RM4.68 and RM16.60, respectively.
In active stocks, Sapura Energy rose half-a-sen to 5.0 sen, Aumas added four sen to 79 sen, while TWL and Bintai Kinden were unchanged at 2.5 sen and 8.0 sen, respectively. Elridge slipped half-a-sen to 46.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 93.14 points to 11,157.40, the FBMT 100 Index fell 98.81 points to 10,932.20, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 72.53 points to 10,833.25.
The FBM 70 Index lost 122.51 points to 15,866.62, while the FBM ACE Index edged up 0.58 of-a-point to 4,531.12.
By sector, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.61 of-a-point to 151.72, the Energy Index dropped 2.58 points to 702.99, the Financial Services Index shed 194.62 points to 18,377.56, and the Plantation Index declined 34.17 points to 7,297.48. – March 14, 2025