KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market had a sluggish start on Monday as investors anticipated the corporate results period to shift into full gear this week.
At 9am, the FBM KLCI was up 0.88 points to 1,653.8, but lost its gains shortly as investors stayed to the sidelines.
Rakuten Trade said the benchmark index has been erratic, but it remains convinced that the return of buying in Hong Kong illustrates that Asia is becoming the preferred destination for foreign funds, benefitting Asean in due course.
"For today, we anticipate the index to trend between the 1,590-1,600 range," it said in a note.
Malacca Securities Research said the investor sentiment on Wall Street had improved after US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum outlining plans for reciprocal tariffs on countries taxing US products, instead of imposing immediate targeted tariffs.
On the local front, it noted that market sentiment remains weak, driven by foreign institutional outflows and recent strong sell-offs across certain counters including CelcomDigi, Able Global, Notion and YBS International
.
"However, with CPO prices recovering, we expect Plantation stocks to regain upward momentum.
"The construction sector is likely to continue benefiting from data center construction and JSSEZ initiatives, as well as ahead of the 4Q24 earnings that will be releasing this month.
"Lastly, we remain positive on the Genting-related counters despite theirremoval from MSCI index, given their attractive valuations and dividend yields."
Among leading gainers, LPI rose six sen to RM13.96 following its earnings result announced last Friday.
Carlsberg gained 14 sen to RM19.90 and United Plantations rose 20 sen to RM31.68.
Meanwhile, ACE Market debutant Richtech jumped 31 sen to 56 sen, with the second-highest traded volume of stocks on Bursa Malaysia.
Other leading actives were TWL flat at 2.5 sen and Aizo down 0.5 sen to 11 sen.
