KUALA LUMPUR: The rally in domestic equities stuttered on Friday after two days of gains triggered by the government's cost-of-living incentives that boosted consumer stocks, as well as Nestle's strong earnings recovery.
While expectations remain that Bursa Malaysia will continue its climb, the FBM KLCI paused for a breather at Friday's open, falling 1.66 points to 1,538.66.
According to TA Securities, the local benchmark is poised to extend its gains heading into the weekend, underpinned by improving momentum indicators and renewed optimism over prospective trade agreements with the US.
"Immediate index support is kept at 1,490, with stronger support found at 1,465 followed by 1,444.
Immediate resistance remains at 1,564 with next upside hurdles seen at the recent high of 1,586, followed by 1,610 ahead," said the research firm.
Nestle continued on its upward trajectory, a day after jumping 7% after the consumer giant posted a strong quarterly improvement in its bottomline on improved operational efficiency. The share rose RM1.18 or 1.43% to RM83.50 in the opening minutes of Friday trading.
The share was a bright spot on the FBM KLCI, which was seeing selling pressure in most counters including Tenaga Nasional, down 28 sne ot RM13.66, PPB shedding 12 sen to RM9.50 and PETRONAS Chemicals falling six sen to RM3.63.
Meanwhile, top traded counters on Bursa Malaysia included NexG up 0.5 sen to 52 sen, Lotte Chemical Titan down two sen to 68.5 sen and TWL flat at 2.5 sen.
