KUALA LUMPUR: The recovery on Bursa Malaysia sputtered on profit-taking despite US equities hitting record levels overnight as investors flocked into AI plays.
The FBM KLCI was down 1.28 points to 1,586.52 after a four-day rally, sparked by hopes the tariffs promised by the Trump administration would not be as wide-ranging or severe as promised.
There was a surge in the valuation of US technology stocks overnight as Trump's US$500bil investment plan for private-sector AI infrastructure lifted the already sky-high expectations for AI.
Meanwhile, Netflix's shares soared nearly 10% following the release of its fourth-quarter results that showed outperforming topline and bottomline.
The S&P 500 ended up 37.13 points, or 0.61%, to 6,086.37 just a few points below its last record closing high of 1090.27, reached on Dec 6.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 252.56 points, or 1.28%, to 20,009.34 while The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 130.92 points, or 0.30%, to 44,156.73.
Rakuten Trade said its daily outlook it is anticipating the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,585-1,595 range with hopes that recent buying on blue chips may eventually instigate some retail interest back to the smaller cap space.
Malacca Securities Research said in a note it is optimistic over the renewable energy sectors after the Prime Minister reiterated Malaysia's commitment to the Paris Agreement despite the US's exit from the climate pact.
The research firm's optimism was also owing to Malaysia serving as the Asean 2025 chair and various government RE initiatives.
In addition, it said the upcoming CNY festive season and the commencement of Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah cash payments will benefit the consumer, aviation, and tourism sectors.
"On the data centre theme, we expect a continuation of the rebound this week after last week’s sell-off," it added.
Making its debut on the ACE Market today, Oriental Kopi was up 37 sen to 81 sen in the first 20 minutes of trading. It registered heavy trading volume of 318.41 million shares, topping the list of active stocks by a wide margin.
Other active counters included Harvest Miracle flat at 17.5 sen and Pertama Digital unchanged at 19 sen.
Meanwhile, blue chips on the FBM KLCI slid back, including Nestle down 28 sen to RM91.10, Tenaga Nasional falling four sen to RM13.84, Gamuda dropping five sen to RM4.30 and YTL shedding five sen to RM3.99.
