KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI edged higher on Tuesday after another record-charting performance on Wall Street, although the gains could be capped by the absence of fresh catalysts to drive the market higher.
Overnight, US equities rose to fresh intra-day and closing highs despite fears of a government shutdown as Congress remains deadlocked over spending plans.
According to Rakuten Trade, there is also cautious sentiment as the highly anticipated phone call between US President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping provided little incentive or clarity to traders.
“In the absence of strong catalysts, we expect the index to trend between the 1,600-1,610 range today,” it said in a note.
The sentiment was echoed by TA Securities, which anticipates cautious trade ahead of the release of a slew of economic data from the US later this week.
At the open, the FBM KLCI was up 1.56 points to 1,604.9, but reamined off last week’s high of 1,611.7.
Early gainers on the market included MPI up 20 sne to RM29.48, PETRONAS Gas rising 18 sen to 18.48 and KESM climbing 17 sen to RM3.55.
ACE Market debutant JS Solar jumped 8.5 sen to 39.5 sen with a market-leading turnover of 34.56 million shares.
Other top traded were NexG up one sen to 51 sen with 14.23 million shares changing hands and JAG flat at 26 sen after 3.4 million shares crossed.