KUALA LUMPUR (June 3): The Bursa Malaysia Technology Index (KL Tech Index) emerged as one of the top gainers in the broader market on Friday (June 3), fuelled by the overnight gain on Wall Street.
The KL Tech Index — which tracks the performance of technology stocks on the local bourse — traded 1.31 points or 1.91% higher at 69.89 at the time of writing.
Among the heavyweights, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd emerged as the top gainer on Bursa after it rose RM1.20 or 3.7% to RM33.60, giving it a market capitalisation of RM7.05 billion.
Among other semiconductor companies, ViTrox Corp Bhd jumped 21 sen or 2.73% to RM7.89, valuing the group at RM7.44 billion.
Meanwhile, UWC Bhd surged 15 sen or 4.9% to RM3.21, giving it a market capitalisation of RM3.54 billion.
On Thursday, CNBC reported that the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 2.7% to 12,316.90 as selected tech stocks pushed the index higher to cut a two-day losing streak.
US tech stocks such as NVIDIA gained 6.9%, Zoom rose about 4.3%, Apple inched up by 1.68% and Tesla added nearly 4.7%.
Meanwhile, in a research note on Thursday, MIDF Research highlighted that the recently concluded first-quarter earnings results for the sector were generally mixed, with three companies registering earnings within expectations and two companies coming in below expectations.
The lacklustre results were attributed to a challenging business environment for tech companies amid surging inflation, rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, global supply chains issues and changes in spending patterns due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as geopolitical instability in Russia and Ukraine, the research house said.
“Nevertheless, given the forward-looking [prospect] of 5G to provide multi-year growth, just like the 3G to 4G transition cycle, we opine that our tech companies are still the prime beneficiary of 5G technologies.
“All in all, we are positive on the sector given that the fundamentals are still intact as semiconductors still have exponential demand from various applications and sectors,” it explained.
https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/local-tech-stocks-focus-amid-overnight-gain-wall-street
