KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's equities remain buoyed by the feel-good sentiment of the Prime Minister's recent announcements to alleviate the Rakyat's cost of living, even as another record performance in US stock indices overnight encouraged the investment appetite.
Starting on a cautious note, the FBM KLCI rose 1.26 points to 1,531.05 at the open.
According to TA Securities, the government's measures to support Malaysians should have no major positive impact on equities, although it noted consumer staples should benefit from greater private consumption.
While the market is seeing some temporary relief, more clarity over downside risks is pending the finalisation and implementation of the US tariff hike on Aug 1.
"Our current 2H25 base case FBM KLCI target is 1,660 (based on CY26 PER of 14.3x) assuming US tariff is maintained at 10%.
"Our worst-case target of 1,580 (based on minus-one standard deviation from long-term mean of 16x), if tariff is anything higher appears more plausible under the current scenario if it doubles to 20% or is sustained at 25%," said TA Securities.
On the market today, Nestle rose 62 sen to RM77.52, United Plantations gained 18 sen to RM21.98 and PPB rose 18 sen to RM9.48.
Of actives, NexG was flat at 52 sen, TWL unchanged at 2.5 sen and Dnex up 2.5 sen to 31 sen.
