BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
Malaysian equities remained on the downtrend yesterday, sustaining their downtrend amid the lack of catalysts with banking stocks leading the key index lower.
Even the sustained positivity in consumer spending patterns for December failed to reverse the mostly downward trend.
The selling was also widespread with many broader market and lower liners retreating further, leaving market breadth in the negative territory. Market volumes also thinned by some 25% as sentiments turned more cautious.
The FBM KLCI continues to decouple from the performances of global equities to slip further away from the psychological 1,500 level. At the same time, it also fell below the 200-day Moving Average line which could indicate that the key index is still on the downtrend.
As it is, there remains little buying support with foreign funds continuing to exit the market to other outperforming equity markets in the region.
Consequently, the on-going insipid market trend is likely to persist over the near term with market players awaiting the release of the country’s GDP (gross domestic product) tomorrow and more corporate results for leads.
The weakness among global equity markets overnight could also weigh-on investor sentiments on Bursa Malaysia stocks. If the 1,470 level is breached, the ensuing supports are at 1,460-1,462 levels while the hurdles are at 1,472 and 1,480 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
The FBM KLCI trended lower amid selling pressure in banking and industrial products & services heavyweights.
Meanwhile, the local bourse continued to see net selling activities from foreign investors (5-day cumulative net selling: -RM407.0 mil).
While the bargain hunting activities may emerge following a two-day sell-down, overall market undertone will remain cautious amid the overnight negative performance on Wall Street amid the persisted worries over the US interest rate hikes.
Commodities-wise, crude oil price stayed above US$83/barrel while crude palm oil (CPO) price hovered closer to RM4,000/metric tonne zone.
The FBM KLCI extended its decline for the second session to close below its daily EMA120 level. Technical indicators remained negative as the MACD Histogram extended a negative bar while the RSI is hovering below 50.
Support is pegged along 1,450-1,460 while the resistance is set around 1,525-1,540. – Feb 9, 2023
