Investors may favour the automotive stocks after the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) raised its Malaysian automotive total industry volume forecast, Malacca Securities said in a note.
On the other hand, investors might see some profit-taking activities in the energy sector on declining crude oil prices.
Malacca Securities said that the uptrend moves on Wall Street overnight signalled that the buying support on the local bourse should remain intact.
Commodities-wise, crude oil price slipped, but still trading above the USD103 per barrel mark after Libya increased output after the restrictions on exports were lifted. Meanwhile, European Central Bank surprised the markets with raising the interest rates for the first time in 11 years.
On the local bourse, it said that the FBM KLCI (+0.9%) extended its rebound with 28 out of 30 key index components notched higher yesterday. The lower liners also trended higher, while all the 13 major sectors on the broader market remained upbeat, anchored by both the technology and industrial product & service sectors that added 1.8% each.
On the global markets, Wall Street marched higher as the Dow (+0.5%) was driven by stronger-than-expected corporate earnings that overcame negativity from the news over US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19. “The European stock markets ended mostly upbeat, while Asia stock markets closed mixed,” it said.
