FBM KLCI tracks Wall Street losses, Atlan hits limit up

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI fell slightly in early trade Friday, tracking losses on Wall Street.

Overnight, the US stock markets extended their decline, dragged down by weaker-than-expected earnings from Meta Platforms, while the solid 3Q23 GDP data (+4.9% YoY) reinforced the hawkish tone set by the US Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 251.63 points, or 0.76%, to 32,784.3, the S&P 500 lost 49.54 points, or 1.18%, to 4,137.23 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 225.62 points, or 1.76%, to 12,595.61.

The FBM KLCI fell 0.84 of a point, or 0.06% to 1,439.72 at 9.08am. The index opened 0.11 of a point higher at 1,440.71.

There were 112 gainers, 147 losers and 211 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia.

Among the losers, Vitrox fell seven sen to RM7.13, Hong Leong Financial Group declined six sen to RM17.36, Allianz lost four sen to RM15.86 and AirAsia X gave up three sen to RM2.05.

Atlan, the top gainer on Bursa Malaysia, hit a limit up, rising 83 sen, or 29.96% to RM3.60 with 100 shares done.

Nestle added 20 sen to RM125.10, PETRONAS Gas gained eight sen to RM17.28, Greatech Technology climbed five sen RM4.57 and Adventa rose 4.5 sen to 34.5 sen.

Inter-Pacific Securities said market conditions are still unsettled with few positive leads and the downside bias remains in place for the time being.

It said the overall market conditions are in a consolidation mode with few impetuses to provide the lift to the market.

“With key overseas equity indices still displaying weakness, the downside bias could persist with foreign funds likely to continue their selling due to the combination of the weaker Ringgit and the flight to safer assets.

“Therefore, the key index is still vulnerable to more near-term weakness and the 200-day moving average support at 1,437 points remains under threat, albeit mild buying support may help to limit the near-term downside.

“Below 1,437, the other supports are at the 1,430-1,434 levels. The hurdles, meanwhile, are at the 1,445 and 1,450 levels respectively,” Inter-Pacific said.

Apex Securities said despite the positive surprise from the PPI data that expanded 0.2% year-on-year in September 2023; snapping seven straight months of contraction, it failed to alleviate the FBM KLCI yesterday.

It said external factors such as concern the rising bond yields and higher interest rate environment is expected to dominate the sentiment.

“For now, investors will be monitoring the US consumer sentiment data to provide further guidance towards the impact of higher interest rates on consumer spending power.

“With the ongoing volatility, we advocate investors to be defensive, focusing on gold-related stocks after gold prices marched higher above US$1,990/oz,” Apex said.