FBM KLCI trends higher on Wall Street rally

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI rose in early trade Friday on better sentiment, bolstered by a rally on Wall Street overnight.

The rally on Wall Street came amid optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 564.50 points or 1.7% to 33,839.08, the Nasdaq surged 232.72 points or 1.8% to 13,294.19 and the S&P 500 spiked 79.92 points or 1.9% to 4,317.78.

On the local front, the FBM KLCI rose 7.58 points, or 0.53% to 1,447.35 at 9.07am. The index opened 6.95 points higher at 1,446.72.

Nestle rose 60 sen to RM123.50, BLD Plantation gained 38 sen to RM11, MISC added 11 sen to RM7.32 and PPB climbed 12 sen o RM15.12.

Among the losers, F&N slid 26 sen to RM25.92, Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 10 sen to RM21.98, Sam Engineering eased 10 sen to RM4.31 and YNH Property declined six sen to RM5.03.

“Underpin by a spate of positive news, we believe the local bourse to see the return of buyers thus expect the benchmark index to hover within the 1,440-1,450 range today.

“Again, we advocate investors to stay with the banks as we anticipate the financials to chart decent earnings growth for 2023,” Rakuten Trade said.

Meanwhile, Apex Securities reckoned that the FBM KLCI could extend its rebound, taking cue from Wall Street’s bullish momentum.

Still, recovery is expected to be measured at this point of time, given that there was an absence of fresh leads from the local front.

“The lower liners may also see improved trading sentiment on the back of rebound play, riding onto previous session net buying position from foreign funds.

“Investors will continue to monitor the US October jobs report and corporate earnings. Meanwhile, the China as well as US Services and Composite data will be monitored closely,” Apex said.