BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
Malaysian equities ended the week with minute gains following announcement of the country’s 2Q 2022 gross domestic product (GDP) figure that was above expectations.
Although the key index stayed comfortably above the 1,500 level, conditions in the broader market and among the lower liners were largely mixed amid bouts of profit taking ahead of the weekend.
The healthcare index again emerged as the biggest loser for the day but gainers were still ahead of losers for the day.
The near-term outlook remains mildly sanguine due to the country’s improved economic prospects as well as the strong gains on Wall Street at the end of last week.
Collectively, these positives should provide continuing impetus for key index stocks to fortify their position above the 1,500 level as well as to make further headway.
However, the recent upsides may have reflected the firmer economic undertone and further gains could still be modest as the key index could look to consolidate its position around the psychological 1,500 level for the time being.
As such, the 1,510 level could become the immediate hurdle for the time being as the market looks for further impetuses to head higher. Beyond that, the next resistance is at 1,520 points while 1,500 is the immediate support followed by the 1,495 points.
Malacca Securities Research
The FBM KLCI eked out marginal gains amid the positive-biased regional market.
That Wall Street ended positively with easing inflation expectations coupled with stronger-than-expected consumer sentiment should see buying interest spilling over to our stock markets.
Given the key index is staying above the 1,500 level, the local bourse may see more upward movement driven by optimism ahead of the upcoming reporting season in view of the better-than-expected Malaysia GDP data.
Commodities-wise, Brent crude price hovered around the US$98/barrel mark while crude palm oil (CPO) price surged above RM4,400/metric tonne.
The FBM KLCI inched up and stayed above its daily EMA9 level. Technical indicators remained mixed as the MACD Histogram extended a negative bar, while the RSI hovered above 50.
Support is set at 1,460-1,480 while the resistance is envisaged along 1,530-1,560. – Aug 15, 2022
