The FBMKLCI managed to close higher as traders were bullish on the stock markets
with buying interest flown into several index heavyweights, contributing to a healthy
market breadth. Meanwhile, Wall Street ended on a negative tone for the second
consecutive day on the back of profit taking activities, despite the Fed’s meeting
minutes showing progress that the inflation was under control and rate cuts may
only happen in March this year. On the commodity markets, Brent oil price climbed
more than 3% amid rising tensions in the Middle East as Libya's top oilfield
production was halted following a protest.

Sector focus: Given the selldown on Wall Street, we expect the Technology sector
will cap the upside for now. From the trading activities in the market, we noticed that
the water-related stocks were traded strongly higher, it might be due to the (i)
potential water tariff revision and (ii) the high usage of upcoming data centre boom.
Meanwhile, we expect the (i) Johor-theme, (ii) potential revival of the KL-SG HSR, (iii)
ongoing RTS link and (iii) easing of MM2H requirements to boost the attention for
the Construction, Building Material, Property and Utilities sectors.