BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
There was some pre-Christmas holiday cheer on Bursa Malaysia as the FBM KLCI mounted a firmer rebound to close above the 1,600 level on Tuesday (Dec 24), rising in tandem with the upsides in most global equity indices.
The lower liners also made headway as mild window dressing activities emerged that allowed market breadth to veer into the positive side.
However, with many market players on their break, traded volumes whittled down to just a hair above 2 billion shares for the day.
We still see mild window dressing activities emerging in the day ahead that should enable the key index to remain above the 1,600 level for the time being.
However, we also note that market interest will be thin as most market players are still on their year-end break.
At the same time, there will also be fewer market leads ahead which could also partly contribute to the thinner volumes into the final trading week of the year.
Meanwhile, the continuing window dressing activities would help the key index to firm up further to the immediate hurdle at 1,605 points before making a pass at the 200-day moving average line around the 1,607-1,610 levels.
On the downside, the 1,600 level is the immediate support, followed by the 1,595 level.
Malacca Securities Research
The local bourse traded higher, surpassing the 1,600 level, as buying interest was observed across blue-chip stocks during the window-dressing period.
In the US, Wall Street continued its upward trend on Christmas Eve, led by tech stocks, including a 7.4% surge in Tesla and gains of more than 1% in both Amazon and Meta.
Meanwhile, traders will keep an eye on key economic data such as initial jobless claims later today and crude oil inventories on Friday.
In the commodities market, Brent crude ended higher, closing above the US$73/barrel level. Gold prices steadied around US$2,610-US$2,620/oz while CPO (crude palm oi) prices finally rebounded above the RM4,500/metric tonne mark.
Despite closing above the 1,600 psychological level, the FBM KLCI is still in its downtrend mode, trading below all the moving average lines. The MACD Histogram expanded negatively while the RSI is below 50, suggesting that the momentum is negative.
Resistance is anticipated around 1,617-1,622 while support is set at 1,582-1,587. – Dec 26, 2024
