KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market bounced higher on Tuesday following the extended weekend as the market played catch up to global markets that rallied previously on optimism over easing inflation.
However, the market enthusiasm is expected to subside as investors take a cautious stance in the absence of further catalysts.
"We expect the local bourse to remain sideways with investors turning to the sidelines following the Awal Muharram festive break," said Apex Securities Research in a note.
"Likewise, the lower liners may trend within rangebound pattern as investors take a break from the long holiday."
The research firm said investor focus remains on the release of US corporate earnings while investors will also be monitoring speeches from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell to gauge US monetary policy as well as the EU unemployment rate.
Apex expects the healthcare sector, especially glove-related stocks, to build on the previous session's fains following recent reports of an outbreak of measles around the world.
It added that trading sentiment in oil and gas stocks could be negatively impacted by the weakness in crude oil prices.
At the open, the FBM KCI was up 6.12 points, to 1,617.14, erasing the losses it made in the previous session.
YTL Power rose six sen to RM5.29 while YTL Corp gained three sen to RM3.80 and PETRONAS Gas jumped 16 sen to RM18.14.
Hong Leong Bank rose four sen to RM19.24, Public Bank gained six sen to MR4.10, Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 10 sen to RM20.32 and Nestle added 20 sen to RM124.50.
Meanwhile, actives were led by Bumi Armada
rising 2.5 sen to 60.5 sen, Main-Market debutant Johor Plantations flat at 84 sen and Computer Forms unchanged at 17.5 sen.
