KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian stocks rallied to a nine-month high on the first trading day of the fourth quarter as investors geared up for Budget 2026, brushing off US government shutdown worries.
The FBM KLCI rose 8.99 points, or 0.56%, to 1,620.87, its highest level in about nine months since closing at 1,614.83 on Jan 8. The benchmark index touched an intraday high of 1,624.04 and a low of 1,612.62.
In the broader market, gainers outpaced decliners, with 598 stocks ending higher while 438 closed lower. This gave a market breadth of 0.73, indicating that buyers still held the upper hand.
In today’s session, IHH Healthcare was the top contributor to the FBM KLCI’s advance, rising 39 sen or 5.17% to RM7.94.
Sime Darby was the biggest drag on the index and had the biggest drop, declining 2.19%, or five sen to RM2.23.
On the broader market, technology and semiconductor-related stocks were among the top gainers. Unisem rose 22 sen to RM3.04, ViTrox added 20 sen to RM3.95, Malaysian Pacific Industries
advanced 18 sen to RM28.90, while UWC climbed 17 sen to RM3.85.
Among the losers on Bursa Malaysia, Time Dotcom slid 12 sen to RM4.98, Malayan Cement fell 10 sen to RM6.93, Southern Acids lost 10 sen to RM3.40 and Carlsberg declined six sen to RM16.40.
Foreign investors offloaded RM53mil worth of equities on Tuesday, while local retailers disposed of RM12mil.
Local institutions were net buyers, accumulating RM65mil.
Meanwhile, the ringgit eased 0.11% against the US dollar to 4.2118 and weakened 0.25% against the Singapore dollar to 3.2701.
It also slipped 0.17% against the euro at 4.9512 and declined 0.29% to the pound sterling at 5.6730.
On the external front, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index rose 0.37%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.85% to close at 44,550.85, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.91% to 3,455.83. Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.4% to 4,317.57.
Chinese equity markets will be closed from October 1 to 8 for the Golden Week holiday, while Hong Kong markets will be closed on October 1 and 7 for public holidays.
