BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Berjaya Research
The FBM KLCI surrendered all of its previous session’s gains as the key index slipped on Wednesday, reflecting the cautious sentiment across regional markets.
Market participation also moderated with total trading volume easing to 3.41 billion shares from 3.69 billion shares in the preceding session.
Meanwhile, the broader market also turned softer as market breadth weakened with 699 decliners outweighing 355 advancers.
For the day ahead, the local bourse may continue to trade on a cautious footing with investors likely to stay on the sidelines amid the overnight weakness on Wall Street.
The subdued regional performance could also keep the upside potential capped while selective buying may emerge on fundamentally strong counters.
Meanwhile, attention will remain focused onto the on-going US corporate earnings season as results from major companies may provide further clues on global corporate earnings growth momentum and risk appetite.
Technically, the FBM KLCI formed a bearish engulfing candle and remains within the consolidation band.
An extended pullback could see the local bourse re-testing the 1,600 key support level, followed by 1,580 points. Meanwhile, the immediate resistance remains at 1,610 points, followed by 1,622 points.
Malacca Securities Research
Tracking Wall Street’s negative lead, we expect the FBM KLCI index to follow suit and extend the risk-off sentiment.
However, we believe glove valuations remain undemanding (i) despite the Malaysia-China pricing differentials; (ii) amid the on-going US-China trade tensions; and (iii) supported by Top Glove Corp Bhd’s robust earnings.
Moreover, we see trading opportunities within Binastra Corp Bhd and Inta Bina Group Bhd given their (i) steady earnings results; (ii) sizeable order book coverage; and (iii) undemanding valuations.
Over in the utilities sector, Gas Malaysia Bhd, MN Holdings Bhd and KJTS Group Bhd are direct proxies for the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) master plan and Tenaga Nssional Bhd’s capex roll-out.
The FBM KLCI index is facing a pullback from the previous day with technical indicators suggesting weakening signals; the MACD histogram is hovering in the negative territory while the RSI is hovering below 50.
Resistance is anticipated around 1,617-1,622 while support is located at 1,582-1,587. – Oct 23, 2025
