Market Review

MY: Tracking Wall Street’s rebound, positive sentiment spilled over to the local bourse on Friday, with the FBM KLCI closing marginally higher. Sector-wise, Technology (+2.32%) outperformed, as Micron’s earnings beat and stronger outlook lifted semiconductor sentiment, while Energy (-0.24%) declined the most.

US: Wall Street closed higher on Friday as a softer-than-expected September jobs report reduced the expectations of imminent Federal Reserve monetary policy tightening. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq advanced by 0.5%, 0.8% and 1.2% respectively.

The Day Ahead

US: Despite Wall Street closing higher last Friday, investors will focus on the Services PMI and ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI later today for further clues on Fed policy. Stock-wise, investors could consider Akamai Technologies (AKAM), following its USD11.6bn, seven-year agreement with Anthropic to support distributed CPU workloads. We also like Intel (INTC), as Meta’s rollout of the Muse AI agent has heightened interest in data-centre CPU capabilities, potentially supporting demand for Intel’s Xeon 6. Lastly, we continue to favour Micron (MU) following its record 4QFY26 results and upbeat outlook, with equipment suppliers Lam Research (LRCX) and Applied Materials (AMAT) positioned to benefit from higher spending.

MY: Tracking Wall Street’s rebound, we expect the FBM KLCI to kick-start the week positively, with attention shifting towards the Budget 2027 announcement this Friday. We continue to favour HKB, backed by a record-high order book of RM851m (~6.8x FY25 revenue) and potential infrastructure-related initiatives in East Malaysia under Budget 2027. We also like ATE designer and manufacturer AEMULUS, supported by its 3QFY26 earnings turnaround and record-high RM122m order book (~1.5x FY25 revenue), driven by strong demand across the AI, data-centre and automotive industries.