BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
There was little movement on the key index as it lingered within a narrow range for much of yesterday’s session before ending the day with minute losses amid the prevailing cautiousness over US import tariffs.
However, the broader market was a sea of red as many lower liners succumbed to fresh round of selling to leave the FBM Small Cap and FBM ACE indices with sizeable losses.
This also kept market breadth in the negative territory for the day.
Near-term market conditions are still unsettled in our view as the on-off US reciprocal tariffs will continue to dominate sentiments for longer albeit there is hope that President Trump may let-up on his threats to impose higher tariffs that allowed US stocks to extend their recovery overnight.
On the FBM KLCI, there remains hesitation as foreign funds are still trimming their shareholdings and with few signs of abating as yet, any meaningful recovery remains faint with the sustained selling pressure to leave many of the key constituents on an ebb for now.
Consequently, the mostly sideway trend is likely to dominate trades as the key index attempts to stay above the psychological 1,500 level with the resistances pegged at the 1,512-1,514 levels, followed by the 1,520 level.
Below the 1,500-support level, the others are at 1,495 and 1,490 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
Tracking the US markets, the FBM KLCI is set to open higher with technology stocks in focus.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s oil supply is expected to be revoked soon while President Trump could be imposing 25% tariffs on oil trading partners dealing with Venezuela.
Thus, with US-Iran sanctions and OPEC+ production cuts, this may lead to a higher crude oil price environment.
Besides, we see trading opportunities in stocks linked to the nation’s automotive brands as they benefit from March’s higher vehicle sales and anticipating that Hari Raya in April will drive increased delivery turnover for backlogged orders.
The key index continued to trade below the EMA bands with technical indicators showing a mixed signal at the current juncture; the MACD histogram has expanded positively while the RSI remained below 50.
Resistance is anticipated around 1,518-1,523 while support is set at 1,483-1,488. – March 25, 2025
