KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended marginally higher on Tuesday, with investors remaining cautious ahead of the tabling of Budget 2027 on Friday, while gains in technology and semiconductor stocks provided support.
The FBM KLCI closed 1.6 points, or 0.1%, higher at 1,633.35 after trading within an 8.43-point range between an intraday high of 1,641.20 and a low of 1,632.77.
Market breadth was positive, with 667 gainers outpacing 456 losers, while 551 counters were unchanged. Trading volume stood at 4.176 billion shares valued at RM2.949bil.
Dealers said investors stayed selective ahead of the tabling of Budget 2027 on Friday, with the broader market expected to remain rangebound as investors awaited details of the budget and fresh external leads.
Technology and semiconductor stocks were among the top gainers on Bursa Malaysia. Malaysian Pacific Industries
surged RM1.56 to RM44.96, Pentamaster added 64 sen to RM6.08, MI Technovation advanced 59 sen to RM6 and ViTrox rose 34 sen to RM11.10.
Other gainers included Nestle, which gained RM1.26 to RM91.26, KLK, which rose 46 sen to RM21.32 and Batu Kawan, which added 30 sen to RM19.28.
Among the decliners, Dutch Lady fell 30 sen to RM29.70, Allianz lost 18 sen to RM20.62 and TIME dotCom shed 16 sen to RM5.45.
Ayer Holdings and Mega First declined 15 sen each to RM7.55 and RM2.85, respectively.
Zetrix AI was the most actively traded counter, surging 2.5 sen, or 38.46%, to nine sen on volume of 963.3 million shares.
The company said it had submitted a proposed solution to the government to address its outstanding remittances, with its immediate priority being to resolve the obligations and restore affected services, subject to relevant approvals.
ACE Market debutant SLGC came under selling pressure on its first trading day, falling three sen, or 10.71%, to 25 sen on volume of 83.7 million shares.
In terms of fund flow, foreign investors were net sellers of local equities at RM80mil on Oct 5, while retail investors were also net sellers at RM30mil. Local institutions were net buyers at RM109mil.
On the forex front, the ringgit strengthened 0.03% against the US dollar to 4.0857, bringing its year-to-date gain to about 0.8%.
It edged down 0.1% against the Singapore dollar to 3.1955.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan was flat, although most regional markets ended higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.05% to 70,683.98, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.89% to 6,941.39 after returning from a holiday.
Taiwan’s Taiex climbed 0.5% to a record closing high of 49,822.55.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index ended 1% higher at 24,280.56, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.4% to 5,686.87.
