BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
The FBM KLCI remained on the ascend, rising for a sixth session in what is seen as window dressing with the key index bucking the region’s weaker trend.
Nevertheless, the key index ended the day shy of its recent high of 1,466 points. This time around, it was selected telco and banking stocks that led the FBM KLCI higher while the lower liners succumbed to profit taking albeit glove stocks rose.
As a result, market breadth turned negative even as traded volumes spiked to nearly 5 billion shares.
The key index continues to make headway with bouts of window dressing activities emerging to provide the much-needed impetus.
Even so, the overall market’s positivity is still tentative with the buying interest still selective due to the lack of fresh leads.
Therefore, much of the ongoing market strength appears to be from the window dressing activities that are also helping the key index to claw back some of its year-to-date (YTD) losses.
With few signs of the window dressing abating, there could be further near-term upsides as the FBM KLCI attempts to break out of the recent high of 1,465 points which has proven to be a formidable level to clear thus far and has also become the make-or-break level.
If the level is taken out, the resistances are at the 1,471 and 1,475 levels. The supports, on the other hand, are at 1,460 and 1,455 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
The FBM KLCI traded above 1,465 for a brief moment and ended higher for the sixth session supported by buying interest within the banking stocks in the window dressing month.
Also, the US stock markets headed for another rally with the expectation of three rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve in 2024.
However, economic data will be crucial to determine the overall sentiment for the stock markets; the market is anticipating the final 3Q 2023 US gross domestic product (GDP), consumer confidence index as well as the core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index this week.
On the commodity markets, Brent crude prices extended their rebound for another session, trading near the US$78/barrel zone after the Red Sea attack.
The FBM KLCI extended another bullish candle, briefly re-visited the 1,465-1,470 zone. The technical readings on the key index were positive with the MACD Histogram extending another positive bar while the RSI maintains above the 60 level.
The resistance is envisaged around 1,470-1,480 while the support is set at 1,440-1,450. – Dec 19, 2023
