KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — Bursa Malaysia’s main index closed lower on Friday after a choppy session, while buying interest shifted to smaller-cap stocks, particularly technology and construction counters.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 9.18 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 1,665.56, from Thursday’s close of 1,674.74.
The benchmark index opened 1.98 points higher at 1,676.72 and moved between 1,661.79 and 1,677.83 throughout the session.
Market breadth, however, remained positive, with 625 gainers against 564 decliners. A total of 505 counters were unchanged, 1,172 were untraded, and 22 were suspended.
Turnover surged to 4.91 billion units worth RM4.87 billion, from 3.60 billion units valued at RM3.25 billion on Thursday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said major Asian indices trended higher as lower oil prices eased US inflation concerns, while a tech-led rebound on Wall Street lifted sentiment.
On the domestic front, Thong said the local market could not escape broader foreign selling across emerging Asean markets, as a hawkish Federal Reserve, elevated US Treasury yields and a stronger greenback encouraged investors to favour US dollar assets.
“Nevertheless, local investors have shifted their attention towards smaller-cap stocks, particularly in the technology and construction sectors, resulting in stronger broader-market breadth despite the FBM KLCI’s weakness.
“From a technical perspective, the FBM KLCI has slipped to 1,665, while its relative strength index (RSI) at just above 30 indicates that the benchmark is approaching oversold territory,” he told Bernama.
Thong said this could attract bargain hunters, but with momentum still fragile, the index must first reclaim the 1,670-1,675 level to signal easing selling pressure.
Otherwise, the next support lies around 1,650-1,655, he said.
Heavyweight counters saw Maybank lose four sen to RM10.32, Public Bank ease three sen to RM4.77, CIMB fall six sen to RM7.63, Tenaga Nasional reduce 28 sen to RM13.04 and IHH Healthcare erase five sen to RM7.64.
Among the most active counters, Zetrix AI lost 4.5 sen to 20 sen, AirAsia rose 2.5 sen to 53 sen and FBSM shed four sen to 6.5 sen. Jaks Resources added 1.5 sen to 15.5 sen, while Top Glove slipped two sen to 77.5 sen.
Leading the gainers, Malaysian Pacific Industries rose RM2.70 to RM42.80, Sunway Construction jumped 76 sen to RM7.88 and Time Dotcom gained 49 sen to RM6.41. Petronas Gas advanced 34 sen to RM17.50, while QL Resources gained 33 sen to RM4.19.
On the losing side, Petronas Dagangan shed RM1 to RM20.08, Nestle fell 94 sen to RM89.58, Hong Leong Bank lost 56 sen to RM22.54, PPB slipped 35 sen to RM9.36 and KLCCP Stapled fell 28 sen to RM8.31.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 3.01 points to 12,411.72, while the FBM Top 100 Index lost 8.57 points to 12,210.37. The FBM ACE Index, however, advanced 48.15 points to 5,244.60.
The FBM Mid 70 Index jumped 236.78 points to 17,844.02, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 38.12 points to 12,311.99.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.38 of a point to 185.24, while the Energy Index gained 5.48 points to 820.62. The Financial Services Index, however, fell 123.28 points to 19,412.63, while the Plantation Index shed 10.84 points to 9,496.44.
Main Market volume rose to 3.49 billion units worth RM4.55 billion, from 2.19 billion units valued at RM2.95 billion on Thursday.
Warrant turnover increased to 925.95 million units worth RM131.87 million, from 866.66 million units valued at RM108.88 million previously.
ACE Market volume fell to 498.28 million units valued at RM195.96 million, from 541.67 million units worth RM192.18 million on Thursday.
Meanwhile, trading on the Main Market was led by technology counters with 1.44 billion shares, followed by consumer products and services (527.84 million), construction (230.64 million), property (230.97 million), industrial products and services (317.88 million), healthcare (183.60 million), energy (112.55 million), financial services (129.61 million), utilities (90.51 million), real estate investment trusts (66.75 million), plantation (64.85 million), transportation and logistics (48.57 million), telecommunications and media (45.26 million), business trusts (67,900) and closed-end funds (38,200). — Bernama
Date: 18 September, 2026 6:46 pm
Source: Malay Mail
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