BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
Despite staying deep in the red for most of the day, the key index managed to end the day with only minute losses after it clawed back nearly all its intraday losses on a late pick-up of selected banking stocks.
Nevertheless, market breadth remained decidedly negative with losers still ahead of gainers on a 2-to-1 ratio with many lower liners and broader market shares experiencing low following and sustained selling due the lack of fresh catalyst.
With the immediate market outlook remaining unsettled, most market players are likely to remain cautious in their approach.
The on-going war in Eastern Europe and the corresponding high input cost is also keeping market players wary over its near-term direction.
At the same time, there is still concerns over the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting that is likely to see an interest rate lift-off.
With inflation staying stubbornly high, there are fears that the interest rate increases could be steeper-than-expected to combat inflation.
This also means that the near-term market could remain volatile, hence the downside bias is still a feature for now. The supports remain at 1,560 and 1,550 points while the resistances are at 1,575 and 1,580 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
With the rising COVID-19 cases in China as well as the unresolved geopolitical tension between Ukraine-Russia, we believe overall global sentiment may continue to stay volatile with downside risk persisting in regional stock markets.
Several upcoming catalysts for traders to monitor include (i) the Russia-Ukraine on-going peace negotiations; (ii) upcoming interest rate decision in the US; and (iii) the spike in COVID-19 cases in China which may affect the manufacturing sector at least in the near term.
Hence, investors may stay defensive at least for this week. On the commodity markets, crude oil price retreated further to around US$105/barrel while crude palm oil (CPO) price traded around RM6,300/metric tonne.
The FBM KLCI stayed below the daily EMA20 level after closing with marginal losses. Technical indicator remained weak as the MACD Histogram was still below zero while the RSI hovered below 50.
The resistance is envisaged around 1,570-1,580 while the support is set at 1,550, followed by 1,540. – March 15, 2022
