BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Berjaya Research
The FBM KLCI extended its decline on Monday, dragged down by the selling activities in selected index heavyweights in the final minutes of the trading session.
Trading activity, however, rose with 4.20 billion shares exchanging hands from 3.31 billion shares in the prior session.
Market breadth was largely even with 562 advancers against 558 decliners as uncertainties prevails.
Going forward, the FBM KLCI is expected to remain on a cautious footing as investors continue to monitor developments surrounding the US-Iran conflict with any escalation likely to dampen risk appetite and weigh on regional markets, including Bursa Malaysia.
On the data front, the release of US inflation figures will be closely watched as a stronger-than-expected print could reinforce a hawkish Federal Reserve narrative, thus posing a headwind for emerging market equities.
Under the prevailing environment, investors are likely to adopt a wait-and-see approach by rotating defensively into high dividend yielding and domestically driven sectors.
Technically, the key index has formed another bearish candlestick as the recent pullback could send the local bourse towards the near-term support located at 1,744 points and thereafter at 1,732 points.
Meanwhile, the immediate resistance is pegged at 1,768 points, followed by 1,780 points.
Malacca Securities Research
Tracking Wall Street’s positive overnight performance, we anticipate a spill-over effect onto the FBM KLCI.
Following the Economy Ministry’s announcement to bolster the nation’s IC (identity card) design capabilities through a strategic partnership with Arm Holdings plc, we believe investors should remain focused on Oppstar Bhd and SkyeChip Bhd as the market may increasingly regard them as the “Nvidia of Malaysia”.
Lastly, with an anticipated increase in the volume of high-end local chips, other ATE-related (automated test equipment) companies poised to benefit from this partnership tailwind include Frontken Corp Bhd, UWC Bhd and ViTrox Corp Bhd.
The FBM KLCI retreated slightly with technical indicators still showing positive signals at this current juncture as the MACD histogram is trading at its positive territory while the RSI is approaching 70.
Resistance is seen around 1,760-1,765 with support at 1,725-1,730. – May 12, 2026
