KUALA LUMPUR: Local equities moved slightly higher in morning trade although the market is expected to be range-bound due to the heightened uncertainty ahead of the Jackson Hole Symposium later tonight.
The benchmark FBM KLCI started 1.67 points higher at 1,643.33, with a slew of corporate results to be announced later in the day.
Malacca Securities Research, however, is expecting selling pressure on the bourse as Wall Street's negative performance overnight amid rising US 10-year Treasury yields is expected to spill over to local stocks.
"Investors are likely to focus on corporate earnings, especially in the O&G sector, which has seen strong results from Bumi Armada
, Dayang, Perdana Petroleum and Deleum.
"Healthcare stocks may also be in the spotlight following Kossan's results and Thailand’s confirmation of the first Monkeypox case in Asia.
"We continue to favour the consumer sector amid the stronger ringgit environment," it added in a note.
On the blue-chip index, Maybank bounced six sen to RM10.50, SD Guthrie rose three sen to RM4.50 and Sime Darby gained four sne to RM2.65.
YTL Power subsided after the previous day's rally, droppnig seven sen to RM4.13 while YTL Corp dropped five sen to RM3.08.
EPB made its entry on the ACE Market at the top of the actives list, rising nine sen to 65 sen, while yesterday's new listing, Elridge Energy, gained 1.5 sen to 41.5 sen and Cape EMS rose 0.5 sen to 40.5 sen.
