BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
The steep selling spree continued on Bursa Malaysia with the key index shedding another 14 points to end at its lowest level in more than six months.
Persistent selling by foreign funds sent the key index lower even as local institutions provided the buying support.
With selling pressure dominating trades, there were nearly 1,000 losing stocks vs some 200 winning stocks, highlighting the weak sentiments with traded volumes lingering around 3.4 billion shares.
With sentiments still looking frail, hopes for a rebound from the deeply oversold conditions remain elusive due to the strong selling by foreign funds.
As a result, the rebound could be delayed with market players likely to continue shunning Malaysian equities until stability is found.
Nevertheless, the key index should initiate a rebound soon as equity valuations are looking increasingly attractive following the recent sell-off with bargain hunting emerging to help with the rebound.
However, the fresh buying could still be tempered by the continuing selling, particularly by foreign funds, hence this may only give rise to a mild rebound with the hurdle targetted at around the 1,590 level.
In the meantime, there are interim resistances at 1,577 and 1,585 points with the supports are now at 1,560 and 1,550 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
The local bourse failed to hold onto its morning gains, dragged down by construction heavyweights.
While the US CPI (Consumer Price Index) data met expectations, core CPI came in cooler-than-expected, suggesting easing inflationary pressure.
This development boosted sentiment on Wall Street as the market now will be pricing in more rate cuts moving forward.
For this week, traders will closely monitor key economic data later such as (i) retail sales; (ii) core retail sales; and (iii) unemployment claims.
In the commodities market, Brent crude surged above US$82/barrel while gold closed above the US$2,690/oz level. However, CPO (crude palm oil) prices retreated to RM4,264/metric tonne.
The FBM KLCI closed on another losing streak after breaking below the moving average lines. The MACD Histogram continued to expand negatively while the RSI approached the oversold level, indicating negative momentum at the current juncture.
Resistance is anticipated around 1,577-1,582 while support is set at 1,542-1,547. – Jan 16, 2025
