Bursa Malaysia edges higher as last-minute banking rebound lifts market into green zone

KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — Bursa Malaysia reversed earlier losses to settle slightly higher on Friday, supported by a late rebound in banking stocks that lifted the benchmark index into positive territory just minutes before the market closed, an analyst said. 

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index was up by 0.24 per cent, or 3.92 points, to 1,667.74 from Thursday’s close of 1,663.82.

The index opened 0.68 of-a-point higher at 1,664.50 and moved between 1,659.74 and 1,668.75 throughout the trading session.

Market breadth, however, was negative with decliners thumping gainers 728 to 334, while 528 counters were unchanged, 1,153 untraded and 65 suspended.

Turnover dwindled to 2.93 billion units valued at RM2.26 billion against 3.18 billion units worth RM2.89 billion on Thursday.

IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said among the FBM KLCI constituents, the telecommunications sector continued its positive momentum, supported by sustained buying interest throughout the session.

He said although banking stocks traded lower for most of the day, a strong rebound in the final minutes of trading helped reverse earlier losses and provided the necessary support for the index to finish marginally higher.

“Overall, he said market sentiment remained cautious as investors assessed developments in global equity markets.

“Global markets capped a volatile week, with sentiment swinging sharply amid uncertainty surrounding the artificial intelligence (AI) investment theme,” he told Bernama.

Mohd Sedek added that investors continued to evaluate corporate earnings, AI-related capital expenditure plans, and broader sector rotation, resulting in heightened volatility across technology stocks.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices finished lower following the subdued lead from Wall Street overnight.

Technology stocks remained under pressure across Asia, with Japan and South Korea leading the decline as investors turned more cautious on AI-related semiconductor counters.

Sentiment was further dampened after Apple raised prices across several of its products, citing spiralling memory and storage costs sparked by the rise of AI, prompting investors to reassess valuations across the technology sector.

 On the local front, he said although external uncertainties and persistent foreign selling may continue to weigh on sentiment in the near term, the recent correction has improved valuations of many fundamentally sound blue-chip stocks.

Among heavyweights, Maybank rose 8.0 sen to RM10.80, Public Bank and CIMB Group added 2.0 sen each to RM4.83 and RM7.41 respectively, Tenaga Nasional perked up 10 sen to RM14.34, and IHH Healthcare was 3.0 sen easier at RM8.54.

As for the active counters, Zetrix AI was flat at 77 sen, Widad shed half a sen to 1.0 sen, AirAsia X slipped 5.0 sen to RM1.18, Dagang NeXchange lost 2.5 sen to 42 sen, and Tanco was flat to 13.5 sen.

On the gainers’ list, United Plantations ticked up 30 sen to RM32.60, Nestle rose 22 sen to RM95.84, Hong Leong Financial Group and Petronas Dagangan climbed 20 sen each to RM18.50 and RM18.60 respectively, and Solarvest jumped 14 sen to RM2.99.

For the top losers, MPI fell RM2.00 to RM47.00, UMS Integration dipped 70 sen to RM7.80, Vitrox slipped 59 sen to RM7.26, F&N slid 48 sen to RM27.70, and UWC shed 30 sen to RM6.30.

On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index was 15.13 points lower at 12,365.02, the FBM Top 100 Index weakened 9.04 points to 12,201.59, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 46.38 points to 12,241.30.

The FBM Mid 70 Index sank 173.42 points to 17,726.19 and the FBM ACE Index shaved off 41.76 points to 4,745.30.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index climbed 64.88 points to 19,663.12, the Plantation Index rose 34.71 points to 8,882.98, the Energy Index inched up 0.50 of a point to 745.43, while the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.20 points to 179.59.

The Main Market volume shrank to 1.36 billion units valued at RM1.98 billion compared with 1.65 billion units worth RM2.60 billion on Thursday.

Warrants turnover eased to 1.04 billion units worth RM125.28 million versus 1.05 billion units valued at RM116.27 million previously.

The ACE Market volume expanded to 530.03 million units valued at RM151.60 million from 473.76 million units worth RM174.83 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 195.43 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (265.26 million), construction (103.35 million), technology (278.97 million), financial services (57.42 million), property (160.11 million), plantation (17.93 million), real estate investment trusts (9.68 million), closed-end fund (285,200), energy (104.03 million), healthcare (73.25 million), telecommunications and media (54.05 million), transportation and logistics (21.58 million), utilities (18.91 million), and business trusts (150,000). — Bernama