KUALA LUMPUR: More-hawkish-than-expected remarks from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell tempered enthusiasm on the local bourse as expectations of further interest rate cuts for the year are lowered.
In his speech overnight, Powell said the lack of economic data due to the US government shutdown would be a cause for more caution in making any changes to the interest rate.
At the time of writing, CME FedWatch projects a 67.8% probability of a quarter-percentage rate cut at the Fed's December meeting, and a 32.2% chance of no change.
At Thursday's open, the FBM KLCI was 2.62 points higher from the previous day's close at 1,614.16. The conservative movement reflects an absence of clear direction as Wall Street's mixed result overnight as the Dow Jones and S&P500 fell while the Nasdaq rose.
"With US rate cut expectations largely priced in, further upside for the local benchmark index remains constrained, awaiting more substantial domestic catalysts to reignite bargain-hunting interest," said TA Securities in its review.
Malacca Securities in a note said it expects the FBM KLCI to perform on a firmer note after the conclusion of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and China president Xi Jinping. "However, we believe the better-than-expected earnings release from Google post-market may boost sentiment in the Technology sector," it said.
Among the early movers on the FBM KLCI, IHH Healthcare picked up 17 sen to RM8.42, Public Bank rose two sne to RM4.21 and PETRONAS Dagangan jumped 14 sen to RM22.44
A newcomer to the LEAP Market, LPC Group surged 30 sen to 40 sen in debut trading on the back of 100,000 shares done.
Top actives on the market included TWL unchanged at 2.5 sen, Systech rose 0.5 sen to 21 sen and Insights Analytics was unchanged at 69 sen.
