At 9.05 am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) stood at 1,636.91, down 5.42 points from Tuesday’s close of 1,642.33.
The index had initially opened 1.01 points lower at 1,641.32.
The market was closed on Wednesday for the New Year holiday.
Sentiment this morning was slightly negative, with decliners outpacing advancers 149 to 139.
A total of 300 counters remained unchanged, 1,767 were untraded, and 11 were suspended.
Turnover stood at 100.03 million units, valued at RM51.49 million.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd anticipates a potential surge in earnings for the construction, building materials, and utilities sectors, driven by data centre investments.
In a note today, it also favours the oil and gas sector, given the rebound in Brent crude oil prices, and maintains a positive outlook on glove stocks as the ringgit continues to hover around RM4.47 per US dollar.
Among heavyweights, CIMB gained two sen to RM8.21, Hong Leong Bank and Petronas Gas were flat at RM20.56 and RM17.68, respectively, while Maybank and IHH Healthcare eased four sen each to RM10.20 and RM7.26.
Tenaga Nasional dipped 12 sen to RM14.82, CelcomDigi fell one sen to RM3.61, and Petronas Chemicals declined eight sen to RM5.09.
In active stocks, SNS Network increased four sen to 70 sen, Vanzo and JCY International gained one sen each to 22.5 sen and 57.5 sen, Harvest Miracle rose 1.5 sen to 18 sen, Capital A added two sen to RM1.02, while Niche Capital and TWL Holdings were flat at 17 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.
On the broader index, the FBM Emas Index fell 24.66 points to 12,560.85, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 21.84 points to 12,568.73, and the FBMT 100 Index dropped 29.77 points to 12,236.19.
The FBM 70 Index eased 5.76 points to 18,835.37, while the FBM ACE Index rose 17.93 points to 5,398.37.
By sector, the Energy Index gained 4.54 points to 827.47, the Financial Services Index lost 41.34 points to 19,128.79, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased one point to 175.45, and the Plantation Index declined 2.80 points to 7,646.26.
— Bernama
