Bursa Malaysia Opens Marginally Higher In Cautious Early Trade
By HARIZAH HANIM MOHAMED
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher in early trade as investors took a cautious stance ahead of a potential Chinese New Year (CNY) rally, with Venezuela-related developments having little impact on local sentiment.
At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) edged up 0.32 of a point, or 0.01 per cent, to 1,670.08 from last Friday’s close of 1,669.76.
The benchmark had opened 0.02 of-a-point lower at 1,669.78.
Market breadth was positive, with gainers leading losers 159 to 88. Some 340 counters were unchanged, 2,068 were untraded, and 17 were suspended.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, said the local market was in sync with global markets, with a mixed first day for 2026 on Wall Street, as selling of tech-related stocks continued.
“As a result, the Nasdaq closed in negative territory while both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended in positive territory,” he added.
He also said that the FBM KLCI declined amid some profit-taking activities following a solid run-up in December 2025, and the local bourse may be taking a breather before realigning itself for a possible CNY rally as market liquidity builds.
“For today, we expect the index to trend between the 1,650–1,670 range,” he added.
In the latest geopolitical development involving the United States and Venezuela, Thong said the market has yet to react to the news.
Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd said in a research note that, while headlines have been dominated by the sudden seizing of Venezuelan President Maduro by the US on narco-terrorism charges, any overreaction in the market could present an opportunity to buy on dips for the local market.
“The situation is still fluid. We do not expect equity markets to be highly choppy, given that, fundamentally, we do not see escalation, and countries such as China and Russia will, in our view, limit their reactions to strong remarks against the strike,” it said.
Anecdotally, canvassing the performance of both ASEAN and Malaysian markets, the impact of geopolitical events has mostly been benign to equities, with any weekly pull-back usually within the one per cent range.
Among heavyweight stocks, Maybank fell four sen to RM10.40, while CIMB, Public Bank and IHH were one sen lower at RM8.09, RM4.48 and RM8.59, respectively, while Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM13.78.
On the most active list, Insights Analytics rose 10 sen to RM1.23, while TWL, Pharmaniaga and Tanco were unchanged at 2.5 sen, 28 sen and RM1.18, respectively.
Among top gainers, KLK and Malaysian Pacific advanced 18 sen to RM19.98 and RM31.38, respectively, while PPB and Petronas Dagangan improved 10 sen each to RM10.74 and RM20.16.
Top decliners saw Nestle fall 20 sen to RM114.30, Allianz Malaysia decline 10 sen to RM20.10, and KLCC Property ease four sen to RM8.77.
On the broader market, the FBM Emas Index added 10.97 points to 12,267.41, the FBM Top 100 Index gained 10.25 points to 12,068.91, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 20.18 points to 12,086.68.
The FBM Mid 70 Index increased 49.85 points to 16,902.33, while the FBM ACE Index fell 3.38 points to 4,926.65.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 20.70 points to 19,569.29, the Energy Index rose 4.50 points to 771.27, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.56 of-a-point to 172.72, and the Plantation Index gained 35.67 points to 8,306.76.
-- BERNAMA
