KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed higher today, buoyed by supportive local economic policies, positive sentiment from strong technology stocks earnings, and a favourable United States (US) market outlook, an analyst said. Add to that, Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) decision to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 3.0 per cent is poised to encourage domestic spending and investment. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 13.47 points, or 0.83 per cent, to close at its intraday high of 1,634.17, compared to Tuesday’s close of 1,620.70. The benchmark index opened 3.71 points higher at 1,624.41 and subsequently hit a low of 1,623.52 in early trade before trending upwards toward the closing session. Market breadth was positive, with advancers trumping decliners 849 to 352, while 428 counters were unchanged, 765 untraded, and nine suspended. Turnover expanded to 3.39 billion units
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rebounded on Thursday, buoyed by Tesla’s positive earnings forecast, which boosted market sentiment after a prior selloff. Tesla shares surged nearly 16.7%, adding more than US$100 billion (RM435.2 billion) to its market capitalization following robust third-quarter profits and a surprising forecast of 20%-30% sales growth next year.
This optimism lifted the Consumer Discretionary sector by 2.4%, making it the top performer among the S&P 500’s 11 sectors. Other major growth stocks, including Nvidia (+0.8%) and Meta Platforms (+0.6%), also saw gains.
Conversely, the Materials sector fell by 1%, dragged down by Newmont after it missed profit estimates due to higher costs and weaker production in Nevada. IBM dropped nearly 7% after missing third-quarter revenue estimates, weighing on the Dow. Additionally, Boeing fell 1.9% as factory workers continued their strike, and Honeywell slipped 3.8% following a weaker-than-expected annual sales forecast.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 156.57 points (-0.37%) at 42,358.38, while the S&P 500 gained 7.94 points (+0.14%) to 5,805.36, and the Nasdaq Composite added 70.52 points (+0.39%) to 18,347.18.
Treasury yields eased slightly, but the 10-year yield remained around its highest since July, briefly touching 4.26% on Wednesday. Despite concerns about Federal Reserve rate cuts, corporate earnings, and election uncertainty, Tesla’s positive results and guidance provided a welcome boost.
On the earnings front, UPS rose 7.6% on strong third-quarter profits, while FedEx gained 2.4%. In the airline sector, Southwest Airlines fell 2.5%, while American Airlines gained 3.4% after reporting earnings.
As of now, 32% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results, with 79% beating earnings estimates, according to LSEG data.
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