KUALA LUMPUR: An overnight dive in US equities following a report that pointed to resurgent inflation might halt the recovery in Malaysian stocks on Wednesday.
At the start of trading, the benchmark FBM KLCI slid 1.13 points to 1,628.92, keeping the index within a consolidation trading channel.
There was sharp profit-taking in technology counters on Wall Street, leading to a 1.89% plunge in the Nasdaq and the 10-year Treasury yield surging higher.
Given the economic resilience showed in the higher-than-expected November US jobs report, observers are pricing in the possibility that the Federal Reserve could scupper plans for further interest rate reduction.
While there could be spillover effects from the profit-taking in global equities, Rakuten Trade pointed towards a positive trend on developing on the domestic market.
"The benchmark index is showing signs of recovery, supported by a positive exponential moving average crossover and strong backing from local institutions.
"We believe the upward momentum will help the index regain its strength. For today, we expect the FBM KLCI
to trade within the range of 1,625–1,635," it said in a note.
Making its debut on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia today, industrial services firm Swift Energy Technology opened eight sen higher to 36 sen a share, representing a 28.57% increase over its initial public offering (IPO) price of 28 sen a share.
The stocks was the most active in early trade, followed by Velocity (up 0.5 sen to 8.5 sen) and Aimflex (down 0.5 sen to 15 sen).
Gamuda was among the day's leading gainers, surging a further 13 sen or 2.5% to RM5.33, after ending the previous session with a 7% gain.
