KUALA LUMPUR: The local bourse moved into negative territory as investors took some money off the table following the recent rally, snapping a five-day winning streak amid mixed performance across regional markets.
At 5 pm, the FBM KLCI closed 2.42 points, or 0.14%, lower at 1,712.74 after rising to an intraday high of 1,721.48. Despite the dip, the benchmark index still posted a weekly gain of 1.55%, or 26.2 points.
Market breadth turned negative as losers overpowered the gainers on a ratio of 564-to-482 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 3.09 billion shares worth RM3.09bil.
Dealers described the decline as a technical consolidation following recent gains, noting that the upside surprise in advance GDP data reinforces confidence in the domestic growth outlook.
Malaysia’s economy is estimated to have expanded 5.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the Statistics Department’s advance estimate, beating the 5.4% median forecast in a Bloomberg survey.
Annually, Malaysia's economic growth in 2025 eased to 4.9% from 5.1% in 2024.
Among the decliners on Bursa Malaysia, United Plantations slid RM1.28 to RM31.80, Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 54 sen to RM20, Ayer lost 39 sen to RM7.00, while Malayan Cement declined 23 sen to RM7.60.
On the upside, Malaysian Pacific Industries
rose 78 sen to RM34.48, Batu Kawan added 26 sen to RM20.28, Southern Cable gained 20 sen to RM2.44, and LPI Capital advanced 18 sen to RM15.14.
In terms of fund flows, local institutions and retail investors were net sellers on Thursday, offloading equities worth RM308mil and RM22mil, respectively.
Foreign investors snapped up RM330mil worth of equities, emerging as net buyers.
Meanwhile, the ringgit strengthened 0.03% against the US dollar to 4.0553 and inched up 0.09% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1486.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.6%. Among the key regional markets:
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.32% to 53,936.17;
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.09% to 4,840.74;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.29% to 26,844.96;
Taiwan’s Taiex rose 1.94% to 31,408.70;
China’s CSI300 Index declined 0.41% to 4,731.87 and;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.2% to 4,843.93 points.
