KUALA LUMPUR: The rally on Wall Street overnight is likely to spill over to the domestic market even as observers note that Bursa Malaysia's own corporate earnings could lift trading sentiment.
"We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trade in positive territory, supported by a slew of stellar corporate earnings and positive sentiment from the global stock market overnight.
"Bargain hunting activities may also emerge in stocks that have staged a pullback over the past two session," said Apex Securities Research in a note.
It said it expects the positive momentum momentum in technology stocks, particularly semiconductor counters, to extend following the 3% surge in the Nasdaq overnight, while export-related stocks should remain bullish as the prolonged high interest rate in the US is likely to weaken the ringgit against the US$.
At 9am, the benchmark FBM KLCI was up 0.86 points to 1,546.35 as investors digested the optimism from strong corporate results together with the recent pulllback following tempered expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut.
Among early gainers, YTL Power jumped 12 sen to RM3.90 and YTL Corp gained 10 sen to RM2.25 while PETRONAS Gas climbed 20 sne to RM18.18.
On the actives list, Hong Seng rose 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen, Powerwell added four sen to 31 sen and TWL was unchanged at four sen.
