Bursa Opens Slightly Higher As iCents Leads Active Trades
At 9.04 am, the benchmark FBM KLCI edged up 1.77 points to 1,513.27, reflecting cautious optimism amid mixed regional sentiment. Broader market indices also opened in positive territory, with the FBM 70 rising 0.15% to 16,546.64 and the FBM EMAS advancing 0.11% to 11,383.32.
Leading the most active list was iCents, which saw robust interest in its ACE Market debut. The stock traded at RM0.280, up 16.7% from its IPO price of RM0.24, with over 544 million shares exchanging hands within minutes of market opening.
Meanwhile, other actively traded stocks included TWL Holdings, Esceram, and NexG, though most were flat or saw minor movements.
Investors are watching global markets closely amid ongoing uncertainty over US interest rate policy and China's slower-than-expected economic recovery, which continues to influence short-term sentiment across Asia. Related
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Even after checking into our 'hotel economy', MNCs retained ownership of the capital, know-how and value creation – with profits and returns captured abroad, often appearing in the S&P 500, instead of the KLCI. We became a stopover, not a destination for deep capacity-building. This model exploited what we had: Labour, land, capital; but did not meaningfully grow our national champions and capabilities. We must harness what we have and grow what we don't. Without strategic domestic capacity, FDI can reinforce dependency rather than resilience. Rewiring for resilience: We must simultaneously explore and exploit To move forward, the nation must shift from a system that only exploits what we already have to one that also explores what we have yet to become. Exploitation focuses on improving existing assets, cost optimisation, incremental upgrades, dividend extraction. Exploration requires risk-taking, experimentation and bold bets on the unknown. 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Exploitation activities like investing in mature, stable companies provide the financial returns and institutional resilience needed to support Malaysia's long term national goals of higher productivity, which translate to higher income per capita. Just as important is making room for discovery, investments in VC, tech transfer, growth-stage companies and mission-aligned capital. Conclusion: Writing the next sentence The Malaysia of the future cannot be written with the same letters we've always used. It will require new letters, new entrepreneurs and new institutions. That is what Jelawang Capital aims to ignite, even if we start small – a more innovative, connected and self-sustaining national economy. The question is not whether we can afford to explore. It is this: Can we afford not to?
