KUALA LUMPUR: Traders on Bursa Malaysia are taking profit after five consecutive days of gains in the market's blue chips, even as anxieties emerge over whether Iran will accept a US-proposed peace deal that could end the ongoing conflict.
The benchmark FBM KLCI was down a slight 0.78 points at the opening bell to 1,769,79, reflecting a stoic optimism in the investment community that a permanent truce will be struck, sooner rather than later.
Regional markets were seen wavering on Friday, on the heels of a pullback in US stocks as Wall Street took a breather from the surge in AI-related stock valuations.
Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.78% to 34,789 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.65% to 7,441, both backing away from record levels achieved yesterday from the technology rally.
According to TA Securities, the local market is due for a breather as the technical momentum approaches overbought territory, which increases the likelihood of near-term consolidation.
"Immediate support for the index has been revised higher to the 1,700 psychological level, with stronger support coming from the March 2026 low (1,664), followed by the 76.4%FR (1,610).
"Meanwhile, immediate resistance has been upgraded to the 138.2%FP
(1,805), with tougher upside hurdles at the 150%FP (1,842) and 161.8%FP (1,879) ahead," it said in its technical outlook.
Amng the market's active counters, glove makers were seeing a resurgence of interest. Top Glove rose six sen to 78 sen, Hartalega
gained 11 sen to RM1.29, Supermax added two sen to 33.5 sen and Kossan gained nine sen to RM1.22.
Financial services stocks took a step back after the previous day's rally. CIMB dropped four sen to RM8, Maybank slid four sen to RM11.22 and Public Bank was down one sen to RM4.88.
