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 ended its three-day losing streak yesterday to close-in on the 1,500 level again. Its performance also bucked the region’s mostly lower closing with banking and telco stocks leading the key index higher.
The lower liners and broader market shares also continued to make headway but bouts of profit taking tempered their gains to leave market breadth nearly equal. Nevertheless, market interest remained firm as total trades were little changed from a day earlier.
Although yesterday’s rebound was welcomed to break the mild downward streak, the near-term outlook remains unsettled as the buying momentum on the index heavyweights is still anaemic with few noteworthy leads to provide the much-needed impetus.
Consequently, the mostly drifting trend is likely to be sustained and we continue to think that the key index could continue to linger at the psychological 1,500 points level as market players could look to the corporate results to be released next month for pointers.
In the interim, we expect the FBM KLCI to stay range-bound around the 1,490 and 1,500 levels with the latter likely to remain the big hurdle. The other support and resistance levels are at 1,495 and 1,505 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
Despite the buying support within the banking heavyweights, the FBM KLCI continues to end marginally below the key 1,500 level.
However, we noticed the FBM Small Cap index has been trending positively over the past weeks, supported by the broad market recovery following the re-opening of China’s border theme.
Nevertheless, global equities may endure a shaky week as investors turn cautious ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and a series of economic data in the US.
Commodities-wise, Brent crude is hovering around US$84-US$85/barrel zone while crude palm oil (CPO) was trading above RM3,900/metric tonne.
The FBM KLCI stayed above its daily EMA9 but struggled to surpass the key 1,500 level. Technical indicators were mixed as the MACD Histogram crossed below zero while the RSI is hovering above 50.
The resistance is pegged along 1,525-1,540 while the support is set at 1,450-1,460. – Jan 31, 2023
