BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Berjaya Research
The FBM KLCI slipped into negative territory during the second half of yesterday’s trading session, reversing its earlier gains to close the day in the red.
Trading volume moderated to 2.9 billion shares while market breadth turned negative as profit-taking activities extended to the lower liners, a reflection of increasingly cautious investor sentiment.
Looking ahead, the FBM KLCI is expected to remain range-bound with a cautious bias as investors continue to assess external developments and corporate earnings prospects.
Market attention will turn towards the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) upcoming interest rate decision alongside the release of the US Chicago PMI data for further clues on monetary policy direction and economic momentum.
Meanwhile, a flurry of US corporate earnings announcements, particularly from technology heavyweights, could influence global risk appetite and dictate near-term market direction.
Trading sentiment across the broader market is likely to remain subdued with investors likely to adopt a selective approach amid prevailing uncertainties and a lack of compelling near-term catalysts.
Nevertheless, rotational interest could persist in fundamentally sound companies. Against this backdrop, we anticipate the consolidation to persist with any potential meaningful recovery could remain constrained by lingering external uncertainties.
The immediate resistances are located at 1,620-1,630 points. Meanwhile the immediate supports are pegged at 1,592 points, followed by 1,580 points.
Malacca Securities Research
Tracking the sell-off in US technology stocks, we expect negative spillover to weigh on local sentiment, particularly in the technology sector.
Stock-wise, we favour Gas Malaysia Bhd, supported by
- Potential cogeneration opportunities as data centre operators explore off-grid power supply;
- Longer-term gas sales opportunities from potential liberalisation of gas supply to the power sector and more than 8GW of indicative new gas-fired capacity by 2031; and
- Prospects for earnings recovery as natural gas prices improve.
Lastly, we issued our non-rated IPO (initial public offering) note today on MyDCD Bhd (M+ fair value = RM1.07), a provider of mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection (MEPF) systems for critical infrastructure.
While the FBM KLCI remains below key moving averages, the momentum indicators suggest that selling pressure may be easing with the MACD histogram having expanded towards its positive territory while the RSI continues to climb above 30.
Key resistance lies at 1,626-1,631 while near-term support is expected around 1,591-1,596. – Oct 30, 2026
