Bursa Malaysia Stays Flat At Midday As Investors Assess Earnings And Corporate Outlook
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia remained flat at midday as investors stayed cautious amid the ongoing earnings season, closely monitoring earnings delivery, asset quality trends and the corporate outlook.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched down 0.25 of a point to 1,736.23 from last Friday’s close of 1,736.48.
The benchmark index opened 1.83 points higher at 1,738.31, and fluctuated between 1,733.23 and 1,739.47 during the morning trading session.
The broader market was negative, with decliners outnumbering gainers 643 to 381, while 543 counters were unchanged, 1,307 untraded and 46 suspended.
The turnover totalled 2.03 billion units, worth RM1.45 billion.
Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd said the market focus during the holiday-shortened week will shift to the remaining second-quarter 2026 corporate earnings, particularly those of banking heavyweights, which carry significant weightage on the FBM KLCI.
“Externally, West Asia tensions and the direction of global bond yields will remain key swing factors for investor sentiment. In short, we expect the FBM KLCI to consolidate with a mild upward bias this week, supported by improving weekly momentum and its position above the rising short- and medium-term simple moving averages (SMAs),” it said in a note.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank gained two sen to RM10.62, while Public Bank was one sen higher at RM5.10, and CIMB Group was flat at RM7.95. Tenaga Nasional slid 16 sen to RM14.24, and IHH Healthcare fell 11 sen to RM8.17.
On the most active list, NationGate added nine sen to RM1.50, while NexG dropped 4.5 sen to 27.5 sen, and Dagang NeXchange inched down 2.5 sen to 48.5 sen. AirAsia fell 3.5 sen to 77.5 sen and Zetrix AI was flat at 65 sen.
Of the top gainers, Concrete Engineering Products added 26 sen to RM3.90, while Sunway Construction and Kuala Lumpur Kepong added 22 sen each to RM8.12 and RM21.86, respectively. Sarawak Plantation and Dutch Lady Milk Industries both gained 20 sen to RM4.74 and RM32, respectively.
As for the top losers, Malaysian Pacific Industries fell RM1.64 to RM41.56, Allianz Malaysia slid 68 sen to RM21.60, and Hong Leong Industries gave up 36 sen to RM17.26. Petronas Dagangan slipped 34 sen to RM19.28, and KPJ Healthcare lost 32 sen to RM2.80.
On the index board, the FBM ACE Index shed 29.66 points to 5,304.13, the FBM 70 Index fell 71.46 points to 18,079.57, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 9.59 points to 12,632.20.
The FBM Emas Index dipped 12.41 points to 12,819.87, and the FBM Top 100 Index lost 13.91 points to 12,637.01.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 6.33 points to 20,271.73, and the Industrial Products and Services Index rose 0.73 points to 187.95.
The Plantation Index grew 27 points to 9,467.65, and the Energy Index inched up 0.82 of a point to 777.85.
-- BERNAMA