BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
Malaysian stocks mounted a rebound yesterday as the global banking crisis eased with rescue plans in place that helped to shore up market confidence.
The overnight rebound on Wall Street also helped to improve investor sentiments and allowed for the broad-based recovery to extend to the lower liners and broader market shares.
As a result, market breadth turned positive with bargain hunting enabling traded volumes to stay firm above the 3 billion shares mark for the day.
With the banking crisis seeing more resolve and the risk of the contagion effect looking to ease further, there should be more near-term upsides as market players capitalise on the improved market sentiments to pick up some of the recently beaten down sector leaders.
At the same time, market players could continue to cast aside the impending US Federal Reserve interest rate hike decision to undertake more trading activities over the near-term.
This should allow for the FBM KLCI to preserve its upsides and to target the next resistances at the 1,411 level. If the level is cleared, the ensuing hurdles are at the 1,416-1,420 levels. On the downside, the immediate support is pegged at the psychological 1,400 level, followed by the 1,391-1,393 levels.
Malacca Securities Research
The FBM KLCI advanced as investors were on a bargain hunting mode in view of the calmer sentiment on the regional markets. Meanwhile, Wall Street climbed overnight on fading fears following Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s reassurance to avert further banking crises.
The US Fed’s interest rate decision tonight will take centre stage with investors expected to remain cautious ahead of the conclusion of the meeting as aggressive rate hike or hawkish tone from the Fed is likely to hammer investors’ sentiment further.
Commodities-wise, Brent crude price surged above US$75/barrel while crude palm oil (CPO) price hovered above RM3,750/metric tonne. Meanwhile, gold prices remained solid above US$1,900/ounce.
The FBM KLCI climbed higher from the 1,400 level. Technical indicators, however, remained negative as the MACD Histogram extended a negative bar while the RSI has rebounded off the oversold position.
Resistance is set around 1,420-1,440 while the support is located along 1,380-1,390. – March 22, 2023
