KUALA LUMPUR: Apex Securities Research reiterated that the FBM KLCI will trend sideways in view of the lack of surprises from corporate results.
However, it noted that any downside will be cushioned after US Treasury yields hit multi-month lows on expectations that inflation is cooling and the Federal Reserve may be done in rate hikes.
Overnight, Wall Street fell as profit-taking kicked in on higher mortage rates weighed on the latest US new home sales data.
The major US indices fell between 0.1% and 0.2%, as investors took a breather from a four-week rally.
"Back home, investors will be keeping a close watch onto Malaysia’s producer price index later today.
"At the same time, US consumer confidence and S&P Global Manufacturing PMI data will be in focus as well as speeches by Federal Reserve officials," said the research firm in a note.
At the opening bell, the FBM KLCI was up 2.04 points to 1,450.19 as blue chips bounced back following the previous day's profit-taking.
PETRONAS Chemicals was up five sne to RM7.14, IHH rose three sen to RM5.83 and IOI gained two sen to RM3.97.
Bank counters meanwhile were led by Maybank up two sen to RM9.08 and Public Bank rising one sen to RM4.25.
Leading gainers on the broader market included Pertama Digital up 19 sen to RM2.64, AirAsia X
climbing four sen to RM2.14 annd Spritzer adding 13 sen to RM1.82.
Top actives included Hong Seng up 0.5 sen to three sen, Mersec adding one sen to 37 sen and DNeX down 1.5 sen to 41 sen.
