Bursa gives up early gains on profit-taking pressure - Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR, 6 AUGUST 2026 —

Headline: Bursa gives up early gains on profit-taking pressure - Free Malaysia Today Lead: Bursa gives up early gains on profit-taking pressure Free Malaysia Today Body: KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Thursday but edged into negative territory in early trade as investors locked in profits after recent gains, an analyst said. At 9.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.79 of a point to 1,747.38 from Wednesday's close of 1,748.17. The benchmark index opened 1.48 points higher at 1,749.65. On the broader market, decliners outpaced advancers 218 to 179, while 356 counters were unchanged, 1,990 were untraded and 12 suspended. Turnover stood at 233.76 million shares valued at RM119.06 million. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local bourse ended higher on Wednesday as investor sentiment strengthened amid easing geopolitical tensions, lower crude oil prices and improving global risk appetite. "Continued buying in heavyweight stocks, coupled with Malaysia's resilient economic outlook, is expected to support the local bourse today. "While some profit-taking may emerge following the recent gains, the broader market trend remains constructive. Hence, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade within the 1,740-1,760 range today," he said. Meanwhile, US stocks ended mixed overnight after a strong rally, as investors digested corporate earnings, including those from SpaceX and AMD, and assessed US president Donald Trump's remarks that an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be reached as early as Wednesday. Among the heavyweights, Maybank was unchanged at RM10.82, CIMB Group added one sen to RM8.02, IHH Healthcare rose two sen to RM8.34, while Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional fell two sen each to RM5.25 and RM14.64, respectively. Among active stocks, JCY International gained three sen to 44 sen, Steel Hawk added half a sen to 18.5 sen and Zetrix AI advanced 1.5 sen to 70.5 sen, while VS Industry slipped one sen to 23 sen and Genetec Technology was unchanged at 38 sen. Nestle led the gainers, rising 50 sen to RM103.00, followed by Petronas Gas, up 16 sen to RM17.60. Theta Edge and Tradeplus Shariah Gold Tracker gained 13 sen each to 68 sen and RM5.38, respectively, while Tong Herr Resources added seven sen to RM1.87. Malaysian Pacific Industries, Vitrox Corp and KESM Industries led the losers, shedding eight sen each to RM46.86, RM9.02 and RM4.28, respectively. Kelington Group lost six sen to RM8.69 and Petronas Chemicals fell five sen to RM4.47. Among the broader indices, the FBM Mid 70 Index lost 22.59 points to 18,255.37, the FBM ACE Index fell 9.39 points to 5,029.87, the FBM Emas Index eased 8.51 points to 12,894.00 and the FBM Top 100 Index slipped 8.31 points to 12,728.63, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 4.87 points to 12,737.50. By sector, the Financial Services Index declined 21.43 points to 20,547.73, the Plantation Index fell 4.78 points to 9,505.92, the Energy Index eased 0.94 of a point to 763.29 and the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.59 of a point to 189.65. Source: Free Malaysia Today Published: 2026-08-06T01:50:00.000Z Region: Malaysia Topic: Finance (AI-assisted rewrite, based on the original source)

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