KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's stock benchmark hovered just under the 1,600 mark on Thursday after ceding the psychological support in the previous session.
At the open, the FBM KLCI was up 1.63 points to 1,599.81, suggesting a mixed reaction following Wall Street's lukewarm performance overnight.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.32% to 43,408.47, the S&P 500 was flat at 5,917.11 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.11% to 18,966.14.
There was a slight pullback in US technology stocks following the release of Nvidia's third-quarter results as the AI company's outlook indicated its rapid revenue growth could see some moderation in the coming quarters.
On Bursa Malaysia, Malacca Securities Research said it was bullish on tourism and aviation industries ahead of the year-end holiday season, supported by momentum in AirAsia X
and Capital A.
It added that the escalation of the Ukraine-Russia conflict may create opportunities in gold-related stocks, while a stronger US dollar, coupled with potential tariffs from the Trump
administration, continues to favour export-oriented sectors such as technology and gloves.
Additionally, the research firm is optimistic about the construction, property and building materials sectors, which may experience earnings momentum growth driven by data centre investments earlier this year.
Top gainers on Bursa Malaysia included Nestle, bouncing 98 sen higher to RM98.98, Unimech rising 15 sen to RM1.54 and PBA gaining four sen to RM2.25.
Heavyweight banks were Hong Leog Bank climbing 12 sen to RM20.68, Maybank jumping six sen to RM10.18 and CIMB rising four sen to RM8.25.
Of actives, Perdana Petroleum shed 0.l5 sen to 28 sen, MYEG rose two sen to 90 sen and Sealink gained four sen to 31.5 sen.
