BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
There were more gains yesterday as the key index continues its recovery, buoyed by hopes that President Trump’s possible tariffs will be less punitive than earlier expected.
This encouraged further bargain hunting that enabled the key index to climb back to the 1,580 level at the close.
Buying interest was also extended to the broader market with market breadth remained decidedly on the positive side with traded volumes also rising to near 3.5 billion shares.
Near-term market conditions are likely to staying buoyant as market sentiments are showing improvements amid hopes of less disruptions to global trade ahead.
This could spur further recovery on Bursa Malaysia as more bargain hunting activities could emerge after the early year sell-down that sent the key index to its lowest level in more than five months.
The recent big moves in key global indices could also provide some impetus for the FBM KLCI to gain further traction albeit there are still pockets of selling by foreign funds that could still slow the recovery with domestic players, especially institutional players, providing much of the buying support.
On the upside, the immediate hurdles are at the 1,582-1,585 levels, followed by the 1,592 level. The supports, meanwhile, are at 1,575 points and 1,566 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
The local bourse closed higher as President Trump’s decision to not impose tariffs on China on his first day in office boosted regional sentiment.
In the US, markets edged higher as the US-China relations were off to an unexpectedly warm start after Trump returned to the White House.
Meanwhile, Malaysian investors will also continue monitoring the CPI (Consumer Price Index) data and Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) interest rate decision later today.
In the commodities market, Brent crude broke below the US$80/barrel mark while gold price trended higher towards the US$2,743/oz level.
Bitcoin is trading around the US$105,000 level, marking a slight retracement from its all-time-high of US$109,000 while CPO (crude palm oil) prices are still hovering around the RM4,200/metric tonne level.
The index is still trading below all the moving average lines within the pullback formation. The technical indicators, however, are recovering with the RSI rebounded off the oversold zone while the MACD Histogram having formed a rounding bottom formation.
Resistance is anticipated around 1,595-1,600 while support is set at 1,560-1,565. – Jan 22, 2025