KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 10): The FBM KLCI is seen trending sideways today with hurdle at 1,780 points, tracking the overnight close at most global markets.

With prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and finance minister Lim Guan Eng stressing at the Malaysia: A New Dawn Investors' Conference yesterday that Malaysians will have to make sacrifices as well as the possibility of new taxes to pare down government debt, investors are likely to remain on the sidelines until the tabling of Budget 2019 on Nov 2.

Stocks on major world markets edged lower on Tuesday, with a decline in the materials sector offsetting rising energy shares, while long-dated U.S. Treasury yields pulled back from multi-year highs and helped weaken the U.S. dollar, according to Reuters.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, a global benchmark, rose to a seven-year high at 3.261 percent before paring gains to trade at 3.2044 percent on worries about global growth, it said.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 56.21 points, or 0.21 percent, to 26,430.57 and the S&P 500 shed 4.09 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,880.34. The Nasdaq Composite rose 2.07 points, or 0.03 percent, to 7,738.02, said Reuters.

Based on corporate announcements and news flow yesterday, stocks in focus today may include Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Pestech International Bhd, Mitrajaya Holdings Bhd, Kelington Group Bhd, Visdynamics Holdings Bhd and Luster Industries Bhd.