KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI remained under pressure in early trade on Thursday, retreating further from the 1,600-point mark despite gains on Wall Street overnight.
Overnight, Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by CoreWeave's earnings, which eased concerns over artificial intelligence investments, while Nvidia stabilised after two sessions of sharp losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49% to 52,486.49, the S&P 500 gained 1.31% to 7,619.38 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.60% to 25,466.19.
Back home, the FBM KLCI fell 6.40 points, or 0.40%, to 1,588.79 at 9.14am on Thursday, below the psychological 1,600-point level. The index opened 3.61 points lower at 1,591.58.
Among the top losers, Allianz fell 32 sen to RM19.28, PETRONAS Dagangan shed 30 sen to RM19.22, Hong Leong Bank declined 18 sen to RM21.30 and Kelington Group eased 14 sen to RM7.71.
On the upside, United Plantations surged 92 sen to RM31.16, while Heineken and Sarawak Plantation added 14 sen each to RM13.46 and RM4.07, respectively. Carlsberg gained eight sen to RM12.92.
Malacca Securities expects the local bourse to trade higher today, tracking Wall Street's overnight rebound.
It said the proposed US$1.85bil (RM7.5bil) AI infrastructure investment by SoftBank, Grab and PETROS could strengthen Malaysia's position as a regional AI hub, benefiting construction and power infrastructure players such as Gamuda, Binastra, MN Holdings and CBH Engineering.
The consortium's long-term target of at least 5GW of AI computing capacity could also boost demand for data centre mechanical and electrical services, cooling systems and electrical distribution equipment, benefiting Powerwell, EITA Resources
, KJTS Group and upcoming ACE Market debutant MYDCD, which is scheduled to list on Nov 17.
Meanwhile, Berjaya Research Sdn Bhd said the near-term outlook for the FBM KLCI remained cautious, although a rebound could emerge following Wall Street's overnight gains as AI-related concerns eased on CoreWeave's strong guidance.
"The local bourse looks to reclaim the 1,600-point level in the near term as bargain hunting emerges," it said.
Berjaya Research said a sustained recovery above the 1,600-point level would be crucial to restoring investor confidence and improving the near-term technical outlook.
Immediate resistance is seen at 1,616 to 1,634 points, while support levels are pegged at 1,590 and 1,580 points.
“The broader market outlook remains cautiously optimistic, supported by improving market breadth and renewed buying interest in lower-liners.
“We reckon the Bursa Malaysia Technology sector could extend its recovery from the 200-day Simple Moving Average level, riding on the positive performance on Nasdaq overnight.”
