Stronger US prospects positive for local market

The FBM KLCI (+0.5%) closed positively, tracking Wall Street’s performance on stronger prospects of rate cut in US.

The lower liners also closed higher. The Construction sector (+3.61%) surged, emerging as the leader amongst the sectorial peers, driven by strong infrastructure development in the country. Meanwhile, the Energy, Technology and REIT were the only sectors to close in red.

Market Outlook – US prospects

“We anticipate the local stock market may take a breather after yesterday’s gains, reflecting jittery sentiment from external markets due to rising geopolitical concerns.

“We expect profit-taking activities at the current resistance level of 1630 pts, influenced by Wall Street’s performance. Domestically, the technology sector may face selling pressure, mirroring the Nasdaq’s performance. However, this could ease in the afternoon, with TSMC expected to provide a positive outlook in its quarterly results.

“Energy and plantation sectors are likely to deliver improved trading activities as fund rotations out of tech stocks, with oil and gas counters benefiting from higher oil prices and plantation stocks bolstered by supply concerns and better export sales to China,” says Apex Research.

Global Markets Review

Wall Street ended with a mixed performance as funds rotated out of technology stocks into financial and energy sectors. The Dow Jones closed higher while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq lower were affected by jittery sentiment due to rising geopolitical tensions and the US considering new chipmaking equipment export controls to China. Similarly, European markets closed lower, while Asia stock markets ended mixed.