KUALA LUMPUR: As a slew of corporate results continue to be released on Bursa Malaysia, investors could ride the bullish momentum underpinned by buying support from foreign funds.
In a note, Apex Securities Research said remarks by G20 chiefs that the global economy is looking more able to pull off a soft landing is likely to further fuel the market optimism.
"The lower liners, however, will remain choppy with focus are onto larger cap stocks, while investors continue to digest a flurry of corporate earnings releases.
"We favour the utilities sector that is trading at an all-time high, while the rise in crude oil prices as attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have exacerbated supply concerns may present trading opportunities within oil and gas stocks," said the research firm.
Overnight, Wall Street ended mixed ahead of the personal consumption expenditures report, the US' preferred measure of inflation, due out later this week.
There were modest gains seen in the S&P500 (0.2%) and the Nasdaq (0.4%) while the Dow Jones retreated 0.25%.
At 9am, Malaysia's benchmark stock index was down 2.5 points to 1,556.3 as investors took some profit after the previous session's strong gains.
There was selling pressure seen in PETRONAS Chemicals down 12 sen to RM6.82 and PETRONAS Gas falling 14 sen to RM17.92 after their results failed to meet expectations.
Tenaga Nasional slumped 32 sen to RM11.10.
Top actives on the market included Hong Seng up 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen, Velesto
jumping 4.5 sen to 31 sen and TWL rising 0.5 sen to four sen.
Leong Hup, one of the day's most active, dove 6.5 sen to 65 sen after its earnings announcement disappointed investors.
