BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Berjaya Research
The FBM KLCI ended largely unchanged on Tuesday, recovering most of its intraday losses despite more-than-half of the index’s heavyweight constituents closing in the negative territory.
Trading activity improved with total market volume rising to 2.94 billion shares from 2.87 billion shares in the previous session.
However, market breadth turned negative with 717 decliners outnumbering 531 advancers, suggesting that the underlying sentiment remained cautious despite the benchmark index’s resilient performance.
Going forward, the FBM KLCI could trade on a cautious bias tone as investors await outcome of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting pending further clarity on the US Federal Reserve’s policy stance and guidance on the interest rate outlook.
In the meantime, persistent geopolitical uncertainties in the Middle East coupled with on-going concerns over global trade developments could continue to cap risk appetite.
Nevertheless, bargain hunting in fundamentally sound large-cap stocks may provide some support to the FBM KLCI.
Technically, the key index has formed a dragonfly doji candlestick to defend the 1,700 psychological level and is poised for a consolidation.
The immediate resistance remains located at 1,720 points, followed by 1,735 points. Meanwhile, near-term supports are pegged at 1,686 points and 1,676 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
Overall market sentiment on Bursa Malaysia may see a rebound though upside will be limited by the global tech rout.
Semiconductor weakness could cap index gains but stock-specific earnings breakouts offer clear trading opportunities.
Focus turns to Dufu Technology Corp Bhd after its quarterly profit surged nearly five-fold to RM13.9 mil on robust HDD (hard disk drive) demand and OGX Group Bhd following a 51.2% year-on-year (yoy) net profit jump to RM23.2 mil.
Amid fragile tech sentiment, investors should take shelter in defensive plays with stable cash flows. This favours consumer heavyweights like 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings Bhd and Spritzer Bhd alongside utilities anchor Tenaga Nasional Bhd.
The FBM KLCI could see a slight rebound as technical indicators remain generally constructive with the MACD histogram maintaining its rounding bottom formation while the RSI stays above the 50 threshold.
Near-term resistance sits at 1,727-1,742 with support anchored at 1,682-1,697. – July 29, 2026
