KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 31): The FBM KLCI rose 0.43% early on the final trading of a bruising October which has seen the index give up more than 100 points month-on-month.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI rose 7.23 points to 1,693.17. Gains were, however, seen capped.

The early gainers included United Plantations Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Perusahaan Sadur Timah Malaysia Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, SAM Engineering & Equipment Bhd, ViTrox Corp Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd, Public Bank Bhd and Globetronics Technology Bhd.

Asian stocks traded mixed on the last day of a bruising month after a topsy-turvy U.S. session that eventually saw equities rally. Treasury yields held gains and the dollar edged higher, according to Bloomberg.

Shares in Tokyo climbed, were little changed in Australia and slipped in South Korea. Futures in Hong Kong pointed to modest losses. Earlier, the S&P 500 Index twice erased gains that topped 1 percent before finally securing a rebound in the last hour of trading. Chinese markets are in focus after calls from authorities to encourage funds to invest spurred a rally Tuesday, while the yuan held near the weakest level in a decade against the greenback, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said with the sentiment staying soft on the back of potential slowdown in corporate earnings and the rising concerns over global outlook amid the prolonged trade war situation, there may be further selling pressure on Wall Street.

“Meanwhile, investors will be focusing on the corporate results from Facebook and Apple later this week.

“On the local bourse, we believe the trading activities will remain subdued ahead of the widely anticipated Budget 2019 on this Friday to understand a clearer picture on Malaysia’s future growth outlook.

“Hence, the KLCI could be ranging between the 1,673-1,700 levels. Meanwhile, with the softer outlook guidance on tech companies in the US, we expect selling pressure to be seen on technology stocks in Malaysia,” it said.