BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Berjaya Research
The FBM KLCI extended its decline on Tuesday, weighed down by weakness in selected plantation and PETRONAS-related heavyweights.
Despite the softer key index performance, trading activity improved with total market volume rising to 3.54 billion shares from 3.28 billion shares in the previous session.
Market breadth tilted to slightly positive, with 597 advancers edging 528 decliners, suggesting that the weakness was largely focused on selected index heavyweights rather than reflecting broad-based selling.
We expect the FBM KLCI to see improvement as market sentiment stabilise and potential bargain hunting takes precedence.
Nevertheless, investor sentiment is likely to remain guarded ahead of the earnings releases from US corporate heavyweights, including Alphabet and Tesla, later tonight with the results expected to provide fresh direction for global risk appetite.
Meanwhile, developments in the Middle East will remain in focus as any further escalation could weigh on market sentiment and increase volatility.
Technically, the key index has formed hammer candlestick after recovering most of its intraday losses.
The immediate resistance is at 1,735 points, followed by 1,740 points. On the flipside, near-term supports remain pegged at 1,712 points and 1,700 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
Following the rebound on Wall Street, we believe the FBM KLCI will follow suit, particularly in the technology sector.
We continue to favour both SkyeChip Bhd and THMY Holdings Bhd with the former potentially boosted by the recent news of developing highspeed interface IP for Cerebras Systems Inc, hence validating the group’s in-house silicon IP capabilities.
Meanwhile, the latter has officially broken ground on its new corporate headquarters and manufacturing plant in Batu Kawan, Penang to further expand its manufacturing capacity moving forward.
Meanwhile, Unisem Bhd has also experienced a breakout following the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) increasing its stake to 6.06% last week.
Lastly, we also favour EG Industries Bhd following its recent US$100 mil advanced networking switch contract win.
While the FBM KLCI has fallen marginally, the technical indicators are still showing positive signals as the MACD histogram is in the positive territory while the RSI is hovering above 50, suggesting that the positive momentum is intact.
Near-term resistance sits at 1,735-1,740 with support anchored at 1,700-1,725. – July 22, 2026
