BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
Stocks on Bursa Malaysia underwent a mild pullback at the start of the week in what was seen as profit taking from last week’s gains.
At the same time, there were fewer new leads for market players to follow with transport- related stocks being the big losers for the day while glove makers rose amid higher COVID cases in China.
Still, market breadth was relatively balanced as small cap stocks continue to make headway even as traded volumes retreated below the 3 billion shares mark.
Market conditions are likely to stay mostly positive over the near-term as the threat of inflation and higher interest rates have abated somewhat that could also provide some calmness after the volatile market conditions over the past few months.
This could still provide some near-term impetus for stocks to hold steady over the near-term as market players await the outcome of the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15) that could set the tone for the market in the weeks ahead.
In the interim, the FBM KLCI is likely to trend within a tight range of between 1,460 and 1,470 levels over the near term amid the wait-and-see stance. Apart from the above range, the other support and hurdle are at 1,450 points and the 1,480 level respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
The FBM KLCI surrendered gains and settled lower as investors took profit ahead of the GE15.
Also, global investors should trade cautiously following the comments from US Federal Reserve officials, reinforcing the view for further interest rate hikes to tame inflation going forward.
Back home, we believe that foreign buying may continue to support the local bourse within the apolitical stocks as well as solid balance companies to weather through the inflationary environment.
Commodities-wise, Brent crude price fell, trading just above US$93/barrel as a climb in China’s COVID-19 cases over the weekend weighed on the price. Meanwhile, crude palm oil (CPO) price hovered around RM4,150/metric tonne.
The FBM KLCI slipped on Monday as the key index failed to close above its daily EMA120 level.
Technical indicators, however, remained positive as the MACD Histogram extended a positive bar while the RSI hovered above 50. Resistance is envisaged along 1,480-1,500 while support is set at 1,420-1,430. – Nov 15, 2022
