BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
Once again, the key index headed nowhere yesterday on the lack of direction as market players await the release of the country’s 4Q 2023 GDP (gross domestic product) today (Feb 16).
Even so, there was a gradual uptick in market interest as more market players returned from their Chinese New Year break that allowed lower liners and broader market shares to post decent gains.
This also allowed market breadth to turn positive amid the improvement in traded volumes to nearly 3.7 billion shares, a rise of some 30% from a day earlier.
As we have noted, the market’s firmness is still holding despite few available impetuses on the back of the continuing buying interest from foreign funds.
This has allowed the FBM KLCI to hold steady after breaching the 1,500 level as well as sustaining its broad uptrend since the start of the year.
Amid firmer buying interest, the on-going market upsides are likely to be preserved over the near term.
The overnight recovery on Wall Street would also provide some impetus for the market and even enable the key index to cast aside a potentially weaker 4Q 2023 GDP reading that is now estimated at 3.4% year-on-year (yoy), down sharply from the previous forecast of 4.1%.
On the upside, the resistances are at 1,531 and 1,535 points while the supports remain at 1,526 and 1,520 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
The FBM KLCI extended its consolidation phase for the second day as focus turned to the FBM Small Cap which added 0.7% for the session.
Meanwhile, the US stock markets charged higher as investors could be pricing in an earlier rate cut following the slightly weaker retail sales.
We believe the market will be monitoring the corporate earnings season for trading opportunities as most companies may exceed expectations as 4Q 2023 was a recovering quarter based on the US GDP data.
Thus, we opine that buying support may prolong on the local exchange today.
On the commodity market, Brent crude price closed firmer as the US Treasury yields slid and the US dollar index eased after the US retail sales.
The FBM KLCI ended flat for another session. The technical readings on the key index were positive with the MACD Histogram extending a positive bar while the RSI maintains above the 50 level.
The resistance is envisaged around 1,540-1,550 while the support is set at 1,500-1,510. – Feb 16, 2024
