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 succumbed to heavy profit taking prior to the Hari Raya break as a late sell-off saw the key index surrendering the gains it secured a day earlier.
The losses were also in line with the steep falls among regional indices on the US tariff concerns.
Although the FBM Small Cap index sustained its rebound, most lower liners lost ground again with total losers still dominating gainers. Market interest also remained thin with just 2.25 billion shares traded for the day.
Market conditions are likely to stay cautious ahead of the President Trump’s tariff announcements later today that could affect Malaysia’s exports to the US as well as companies that have large export exposure to the US.
As such, the recovery among some of the key global stock indices overnight are unlikely to permeate to stocks on Bursa Malaysia with sentiments still affected for the time being.
Market interest is also expected to remain thin due to the lack of domestic leads and many market players are still on the festive break.
This also means that the downside bias remains for now as market players await for the announcement of the tariffs which this could leave the FBM KLCI constituents to continue on a downward drift.
On the downside, the supports are at 1,510 points and at the 1,502-1,506 levels. The resistances, on the other hand, are at 1,520 points and 1,525 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
Despite the generally positive Wall Street and regional markets’ performance, we expect trading activity to be lacklustre on the local bourse due to the shortened trading week and the impending US blanket tariffs announcement today (April 2).
Hence, investors might shift their focus toward sectors less impacted by the reciprocal tariffs such as utilities and consumer products & services.
Meanwhile, investors may also consider the upcoming IPO (initial public offering) of CUCKOO International (M) Bhd (target price:: RM1.53)which has a strong brand presence nationwide and is currently expanding its product portfolio to capture a larger share of the Malaysian market.
The key index continued to trend below the MA lines with technical indicators showing mixed signals at the current juncture; the MACD histogram expanded positively while the RSI is trending below 50.
Resistance is anticipated around 1,528-1,533 while support is set at 1,493-1,498. – April 1, 2025
