Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the US data fuelled expectations that the Federal Reserve is now more likely to cut interest rates at its meeting next week, with investors betting on at least a quarter-point reduction.
“The prospect of looser monetary policy lifted sentiment across regional markets, providing a boost to equities despite ongoing concerns over global growth,” he said.
On the domestic front, Thong said Rakuten viewed the profit-taking as a healthy correction to digest the recent uptrend.
“We reckon that as long as the benchmark index is able to hold above the 1,580 level, chances of breaching 1,600 are higher.
“We anticipate the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) to trend within the range of 1,575-1,600 towards the weekend,” he added.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI erased 7.90 points, or 0.5% to 1,582.85 from yesterday’s close of 1,590.75.
The index had opened 7.92 points lower at 1,582.83 and moved between 1,580.16 and 1,583.82 throughout today’s trading session.
In the broader market, losers were ahead of gainers 483 to 461, while 554 counters were unchanged, 1,124 untraded and 11 suspended.
Turnover was, however, trimmed to 2.48 billion units worth RM2.32 billion from 2.66 billion units worth RM2.29 billion yesterday.
Elsewhere, at the time of writing, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.43% to 26,086.32, Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 0.05% to 4,348.70, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.90% to 3,344.20 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 perked up 1.22% to 44,372.50.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 10 sen to RM9.77, Public Bank and CIMB were three sen better at RM4.22 and RM7.24, Tenaga Nasional gained four sen to RM13.22 and IHH Healthcare rose five sen to RM7.15.
For active stocks, VS Industry gained one sen to 55 sen, Pharmaniaga perked up 2.5 sen to 24.5 sen, Tanco advanced one sen to 81 sen, 99 Speedmart was flat at RM2.49 and Sime Darby lost one sen to RM2.15.
Petronas Dagangan and LPI Capital were the top losers, dropping 62 sen and 12 sen to RM21.38 and RM14.34, respectively.
Top gainers for the day were led by Malaysian Pacific Industries, adding 52 sen to RM28.22, Hong Leong Industries rose 30 sen to RM13.78 and UWC raked in 27 sen to RM3.27.
On the index board, the FBM 70 Index advanced 45.41 points to 16,468.74, while the FBM ACE Index earned 21.61 points to 4,749.71 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index improved 6.02 points to 11,775.94.
However, the FBM Emas Index shed 31.41 points to 11,755.04 and the FBMT 100 Index reduced 35.66 points to 11,515.80.
By sector, the industrial products and services index edged up 0.25 of-a-point to 164.33, the plantation index gained 3.43 points to 7,685.56, while the financial services index lost 138.89 points to 17,953.26 and the energy index slipped 2.53 points to 737.53.
The Main Market volume slipped to 1.39 billion units valued at RM2.04 billion from 1.46 billion units valued at RM2.04 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover declined to 771.31 million units worth RM135.34 million from 945.49 million units worth RM151.63 million previously.
The ACE Market volume rose to 314.81 million units worth RM141.82 million from 257.12 million units worth RM102.18 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 219.51 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (316.57 million), construction (98.06 million), technology (151.74 million), financial services (70.13 million), property (122.7 million), plantation (39.89 million), REITs (39.97 million), closed/fund (19,900), energy (92.87 million), healthcare (142.59 million), telecommunications and media (38.97 million), transportation and logistics (30.89 million), utilities (28.82 million), and business trusts (130,300).