KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 7): The FBM KLCI rose 0.47% in early trade this morning, tracking regional gains.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI rose 7.85 points to 1,677.63.

The early gainers included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, SAM Engineering & Equipment Bhd, PPB Group Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd and Pentamaster Corp Bhd.

Asian shares got off to a rousing start on Monday as a dovish turn by the Federal Reserve and startlingly strong U.S. jobs data soothed some of the market's worst fears about the global outlook, according to Reuters.

Investors are keen to see how Chinese markets react to the central bank's policy easing announced late on Friday, which frees up around $116 billion for new lending, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said in the US, it expects the current feel good sentiment to persist for the near term as the economic data is improving, while the Fed’s tone are supporting market participation’s expectations.

“However, should there be any negative surprises surfacing from the US-China trade discussions (7-8 Jan) may affect markets’ sentiment. 

“We expect the positive sentiment on Wall Street to extend regionally in Asia, eventually boosting stocks on the local front.

“Sectors that we may anticipate a rebound will be O&G (on the back of firmer recovery Brent crude oil price) and technology stocks as the latter were bashed down last week on Apple’s softer outlook guidance.

“Meanwhile, the FBM KLCI could trend within the range of 1,665-1,695,” it said.