KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI crept higher at the start of Friday trading, pushed along by the bullish performance of Wall Street's indices after the release of positive earnings results.
At 9am, the bechmark index was up 2.03 points to 1,522.97, extending its gains from the previous session.
As Malaysian equities continue to retrace sharp losses made earlier in the week, investors remain wary over the onslaught of earnings announcements from US corporations as the results period hits full stride.
"Range bound trading should persist pending more significant local catalysts, with investors paying close attention to earnings results from major US tech companies due later this week," said TA Securities in its market commentary.
Malacca Securities is projecting a stronger performance from local technology players - especially in electrical and electronics, and electronics manufacturing services - following TSMC's stronger-than-expected quarterly results.
The positive spillover effect builds on the resumption of chip sales to China, it said.
Among the leading gainers, MPI rose 38 sen to RM20, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 14 sen to RM20.30 and Gamuda rose 12 sen to RM5.27.
In the spotlight, mechanical and engineering services firm Enproserve made its debut on the ACE Market with a 5.5 sen increase to 29.5 sen after 31.61 million shares done.
NexG remained heavily traded, rising 0.5 sen to 49.5 sen, while Zetrix AI also remains on investors' radar screens, unchanged at 93.5 sen.
