KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia’s key index closed at an intraday high yesterday, supported by continued buying interest even as renewed geopolitical tensions and a weaker overnight lead from Wall Street following the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) decision to stand pat on interest rates weighed on broader sentiment.
The Fed has decided to hold rates steady for the fifth consecutive meeting, with the federal funds rate unchanged between 3.5% and 3.75%.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose 4.84 points to 1,720.40 from the previous day’s close of 1,715.56.
The benchmark index, which opened 1.14 points lower at 1,714.42, hit its lowest level of 1,710.69 in early trade before gaining momentum for the rest of the day.
However, the broader market was negative with losers outpacing gainers 581 to 411, while 612 counters were unchanged, 1,173 untraded and 87 suspended.
Turnover declined to 2.49 billion units valued at RM2.25bil from 2.96 billion units valued at RM2.48bil on Wednesday.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said the FBM KLCI closed higher as investors rotated into consumer and plantation stocks despite a weaker US Wall Street sentiment.
“The local market diverged from its regional peers, with selective buying in defensive and commodity-linked sectors providing support to the benchmark index,” he told Bernama.
However, he noted that investor sentiment remained cautious following the rebound in crude oil prices.
This was mainly driven by renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran, which reignited concerns over potential supply disruptions and broader geopolitical risks.
“While the domestic market demonstrated resilience, escalating tensions in West Asia continue to cloud the near-term outlook and could keep volatility elevated across regional equities,” he added.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd
, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd added two sen each to RM10.88, RM14.62 and RM7.83, respectively. Public Bank Bhd inched up one sen to RM5.16, while IHH Healthcare Bhd was unchanged at RM8.35.
Of the active stocks, Zetrix AI Bhd perked up one sen to 71.5 sen while Steel Hawk Bhd gained 1.5 sen to 23 sen.
