KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended its downward momentum at midday as profit-taking persisted in selected heavyweight counters, led by industrial products and services, healthcare, and utilities sectors.
IHH Healthcare fell 17 sen to RM8.79, Press Metal Aluminium dropped 16 sen to RM7.50, and YTL Power International slipped 12 sen to RM3.08. Collectively, these counters shaved 6.73 points off the composite index.
At 12.30 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.41 per cent, or 7.09 points, to 1,735.73, down from yesterday's close of 1,742.82.
The barometer index opened 3.0 points higher at 1,745.82, trading between 1,735.73 and 1,747.18 in the morning session.
On the broader market, decliners outnumbered advancers 856 to 251, with 393 counters unchanged, 1,154 untraded, and 15 suspended.
Market turnover stood at 2.27 billion shares, valued at RM1.74 billion.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd expects the local bourse to track prevailing sentiment on Wall Street.
"Despite this, selected technology segments, particularly wafer fabrication equipment (WFE) and automated test equipment (ATE), may find support. These segments directly benefit from global chipmakers' prospects, with ongoing capital expenditure expected to remain elevated this year, coupled with constrained high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supply," it said.
Malacca Securities also noted that poultry stocks are gaining traction on the back of a stronger ringgit, despite the removal of government subsidies.
After the local bourse closed lower on Wednesday, it said technical indicators suggest momentum has turned negative, with resistance seen around 1,757–1,762 and support at 1,722–1,727.
Among other heavyweights, Tenaga Nasional fell 12 sen to RM13.98, YTL Corporation eased 5 sen to RM1.99, and Petronas Gas gave up 26 sen to RM18.24, while Petronas Chemicals rose 15 sen to RM3.34 and Petronas Dagangan added 40 sen to RM20.36.
On the most active list, Zetrix AI eased 9.5 sen to 70.5 sen, Pharmaniaga slipped 3.5 sen to 29 sen, Capital A shed 2.5 sen to 57 sen, Velesto Energy edged down 1 sen to 29.5 sen, while MMAG was flat at 5 sen.
Top gainers included Nestle, which advanced RM1.00 to RM112.90, Petronas Dagangan added 40 sen to RM20.36, Allianz Malaysia widened 14 sen to RM22.44, Batu Kawan increased 12 sen to RM19.62, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 10 sen to RM19.82.
Fraser & Neave led the decliners, falling RM1.46 to RM33.90, United Plantations slipped RM1.16 to RM28.64, BLD Plantation shrank 80 sen to RM15.00, Malaysian Pacific Industries was 76 sen lower at RM31.74, and Insights Analytics slid 31 sen to RM1.50.
On the index board, the FBM Top 100 Index decreased 80.02 points to 12,492.59, the FBM Emas Index reduced 91.39 points to 12,662.32, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 140.65 points to 12,145.35, and the FBM ACE Index slipped 84.60 points to 4,611.55, while the FBM Mid 70 Index weakened 241.80 points to 17,267.08.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 13.74 points to 21,496.05, the Plantation Index declined 39.28 points to 8,345.67, the Energy Index fell 17.95 points to 737.96, and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.82 points to 174.76.