Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street experienced an uptrend overnight amid a muted trading session as traders await for big tech earnings and July’s job data this Friday.
The Dow Jones Index Average rose 100 points, while the Nasdaq added 29 points as the US 10-year yield remained flattish at 3.967%.
Meanwhile, he said there may be additional measures to boost consumer spending as the private sector is slated to be the main engine of growth for the economy.
On the local front, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) staged a strong performance as it ended at a five-month high yesterday.
Buying from foreign funds remained apparent as blue chips continued to chart higher, breaking minor resistances along the way.
“For today, we expect such accumulation to persist as the index is nowhere near the year-to-date high yet, hence expect the index to hover within the 1,455-1,470 range.
“Though plantation stocks may see some headwinds due to weaker crude palm oil (CPO) prices overnight, we reckon buying may re-route to the energy and telecommunications-related counters today,” he told Bernama.
At 9.15am, the FBM KLCI declined by 0.75 of a point to 1,458.68 from 1,459.43 at yesterday’s close.
The key index opened 0.53 of a point weaker at 1,458.90.
The broader market was positive as gainers led losers 166 to 160, while 289 counters were unchanged, 1,650 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 338.17 million units worth RM113.23 million.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 2 sen to RM9.04, Public Bank gained 1 sen to RM4.18, while CIMB lost 3 sen to RM5.52, Petronas Chemicals fell 5 sen to RM6.90 and Tenaga Nasional was 2 sen lower at RM9.58.
Among the actives, both KGW and SWS Capital increased by 2.5 sen to 23.5 sen and 32.5 sen respectively, while Sapura Energy and Sarawak Consolidated went up 0.5 sen each to 4 sen and 44 sen.
Komarkcorp was flat at 4.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 1.86 points to 10,701.42, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 2 points to 10,390.88 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened 5.88 points to 10,946.84, the FBM ACE Index eased 23.94 points to 5,306.19, while the FBM 70 Index perked 11.41 points to 13,961.
Sector-wise, the plantation index dwindled by 17.33 points to 7,163.1, and the industrial products and services index reduced by 0.49 of-a-point to 168.22.
The financial services index earned 7.99 points to 16,282.04, and the energy index inched up 3.97 points to 834.12.