Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local market closed broadly higher today, in tandem with regional markets, as bargain-hunting emerged after recent losses.
“The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) pared early gains to stay in positive territory, supported by dovish remarks from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
Investor sentiment was further lifted by president Donald Trump’s assurance of a “fair relationship” with China, easing concerns over trade tensions.
“Buying interest was mainly seen in small and mid-cap stocks, reflecting a more active broader market,” he told Bernama.
Overall, Thong said the benchmark index is expected to remain rangebound between 1,600 and 1,625 points in the near-term as investors await fresh catalysts from global economic data and policy signals.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Sedek Jantan said market reaction to Budget 2026 has been broadly positive, as reflected by the stronger performances across the broader indices.
“We expect wider sectoral participation as market sentiment continues to stabilise, given that the prevailing investor caution is largely influenced by short-term external uncertainties rather than domestic fundamentals,” he said.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI edged up 0.09 of-a-point, or 0.01%, to 1,611.55 from 1,611.46 at yesterday’s close.
The benchmark index opened 3.61 points higher at 1,615.07 and moved between 1,611.12 and 1,619.58 throughout the trading session.
Meanwhile, the broader market was negative, with 726 decliners thumping 426 gainers, while 472 counters were unchanged, 1,048 untraded, and eight suspended.
Turnover increased to 4.26 billion units worth RM3.71 billion compared with 3.66 billion units valued at RM3.78 billion yesterday.
On the local bourse, heavyweights IHH Healthcare gained 2 sen to RM8.07. CIMB Group and Public Bank shed 1 sen each to RM7.34 and RM4.20, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional dipped 2 sen to RM13.18 and Maybank was unchanged at RM9.92.
On the most active list, Velesto Energy perked up 1 sen to 26.5 sen, Genting Malaysia rose 2 sen to RM2.34, Dagang NeXchange increased 3.5 sen to 29 sen, and Tanco Holdings and Zetrix AI edged up 0.5 sen to 86.5 sen and 84.5 sen, respectively.
Top gainers included Nestle, which rose 60 sen to RM102.70, Genting Bhd jumped 39 sen to RM3.40, Petronas Dagangan advanced 30 sen to RM23.00, Spritzer gained 29 sen to RM2.40, and Lim Seong Hai Capital added 21 sen to RM2.37.
Among the top decliners, United Plantations slid 20 sen to RM23.24, Malaysian Pacific Industries slipped 20 sen to RM28.84, Unisem fell 17 sen to RM3.42, PPB Group eased 16 sen to RM10.90, and Uchi Technologies declined 14 sen to RM3.02.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 30.21 points to 12,067.24, the FBMT 100 Index improved 21.78 points to 11,789.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 30.65 points to 12,142.14, the FBM 70 Index jumped 123.13 points to 17,146.15, and the FBM ACE Index surged 151.94 points to 5,345.37.
Sector-wise, the financial services index added 17.21 points to 18,195.20, the industrial products and services index was up 0.37 of-a-point to 173.94, the energy index climbed 10.19 points to 800.03, and the plantation index rose 16.97 points to 7,846.35.
The Main Market volume decreased to 2.27 billion units valued at RM3.32 billion from 2.35 billion units worth RM3.48 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover soared to 1.45 billion units worth RM185.30 million compared with 752.78 million units valued at RM87.72 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume declined to 538.34 million units valued at RM187.88 million from 549.25 million units worth RM219.25 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 541.99 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (337.13 million), construction (93.64 million), technology (391.71 million), financial services (93.90 million), property (212.12 million), plantation (36.44 million), real estate investment trusts (24.90 million), closed/fund (17,800), energy (229.19 million), healthcare (185.57 million), telecommunications and media (48.34 million), transportation and logistics (27.36 million), utilities (48.49 million), and business trusts (2,600).