KUALA LUMPUR: There could be some continuation of the recovery trend on Bursa Malaysia following a mixed performance on Wall Street overnight, although gains are expected to be limited by caution over upcoming US corporate results.
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At the opening bell, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 0.79 points to 1,407.48 as a set of mixed US corporate earnings sent the Dow Jones higher but sent the S&P500 and Nasdaq lower.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq in particular dove over 2% on the back of sharp selling in Tesla and Netflix after the release of their latest quarter earnings and cautionary outlooks.
Malacca Securities Research expects the uptrend on the domestic market to continue given the more optimistic trading landscape, which has sent the Dow higher for nine consecutive sessions.
“It appears that there were bouts of bargain hunting activities emerging on the FBM KLCI yesterday and we think that the key index may continue to see some nibbling to build onto its recovery trend over the near term.
“Meanwhile, rotational play may continue to keep the trading interest afloat amongst the lower liners,” it said in a note.
However, the research firm said it is cautious over the overbought conditions in both the FBM Small Cap and FBM ACE indices, which may present limited upsides.
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It said the investor focus remains on the ongoing batch of corporate earnings in the US, coupled with the retail sales data in the UK that may dictate the direction of the stock markets.
On the blue-chip FBM KLCI, plantations counters were the most improved as Sime Darby Plantation rose seven sen to RM4.47 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong jumped 50 sen to RM23.20.
Technology stocks however retreated on the back of the Nasdaq’s overnight rout, shedding 0.6% to 65.08.
Among the leading decliners in the sector, Frontken was seen slipping eight sen to RM4.52, D&O dropped three sen to RM3.98 and Pentamaster fell 12 sen to RM5.33.
Top actives were Classita up 0.5 sen to 19.5 sen, UEM Sunrise dropping 0.5 sen to 44.5 sen and Destini up 0.5 sen to 8.5 sen.
– The Star