KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's blue chips held steady amid a broader market weakness as traders took profit ahead of the Budget 2026 announcement later this week.
While the FBM KLCI spent the earlier half of the morning session in negative territory, the index rebounded as it moved into the midday break, ending the session 1.41 points higher at 1,635.47.
The market's lower liners, however, didn't fare as well as 659 stocks retreated against 329 gainers. The trading volume stood at 2.36 billion shares valued at RM1.26bil.
The utilities sector dropped by over 1%, leading seven other sectors into the red, including property and construction. Plantation stocks saw some upside interest, while financial services and healthcare remained a draw for investors.
Among the leading blue chips, PETRONAS Gas rose 24 sen to RM18.82, PPB gained 24 sen to RM10.46 and IHH added 18 sen to RM8.31.
Most actively traded counters were NexG up 0.5 sen ot 52.5 sen, VS Industry down 1.5 sen to 55.5 sen and Tanco unchanged at 89 sen.
Meanwhile, Asian markets rose with Japan's Nikkei in the lead as pro-business candidate Sanae Takaichi was elected as leader of the ruling party.
The Japanese index is on course to its highest closing on record at 47,796, a 4.43% jump over the previous day's closing. At its highest earlier in the day, the index had hit 47,976.
In China, the composite index gained 0.52% 3,882 and the blue-chip CSI300 rose 0.45% to 4,640.
Hong Kong's Hang was down 0.61% to 26,976.
