KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia succumbed to broad-based selling pressure on Tuesday, with the FBM KLCI suffering its steepest fall in nearly seven months.
Sentiment was rattled by rising oil prices and bond yields hovering at multi-year highs, as investors braced for borrowing costs to remain elevated for longer.
The FBM KLCI tumbled 26.06 points, or 1.56%, to 1,643.96, its lowest level since mid-December 2025, extending its year-to-date decline to more than 2.15%. The drop was its steepest since March 9, 2026, when the index fell 2.55%
Market breadth was negative, with 684 losers outpacing 412 gainers, while 556 counters were unchanged. Turnover stood at 3.32 billion shares worth RM2.96bil.
In today’s session, 22 of the 30 FBM KLCI component stocks closed lower, while four gained and four were unchanged.
Leading the losses on the index, RHB Bank
fell 3.83%, or 30 sen, to RM7.54. Sunway dropped 3.3%, or 15 sen, to RM4.39, PETRONAS Chemicals slid 3.16%, or 14 sen, to RM4.29, while MR DIY fell 3.03%, or four sen, to RM1.28.
Gamuda was the top gainer, rising 1.43%, or seven sen, to RM4.98, followed by YTL Power, which added 0.52%, or three sen, to RM5.81. SD Guthrie gained 0.33%, or two sen, to RM6.16, while IOI Corp edged up 0.21%, or one sen, to RM4.71.
On the broader market, Malaysian Pacific Industries tumbled RM1.40 to RM40.80, F&N lost 42 sen to RM21.80 and Heineken declined 32 sen to RM13.24.
Bucking the weakness, Solarvest jumped 33 sen to RM4.49, Samaiden gained 28 sen to RM3.18 and Southern Cable Group advanced 21 sen to RM2.97.
Dealers said a bout of profit-taking sent many stocks lower, with declines of between 2% and 4% common across the market.
They added that the local bourse was also weighed down by selling pressure in banking stocks.
On the forex front, the ringgit strengthened 0.05% against the US dollar to 40805, bringing its year-to-date gain to 0.8%.
The local currency also edged up 0.11% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1895.
In terms of fund flows, foreign investors and local institutions were net sellers on Monday, offloading RM142mil and RM34mil worth of equities, respectively.
Retail investors emerged as net buyers, with net purchases of RM176mil.
On the external front, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.06% lower at 65,481.27 while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.27%, at 6,870.81.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.48% at 24,523.57. China’s CSI300 index edged up 0.1% to 4,345.21, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.18% at 3,830.45 points.
