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 rebounded for a second day albeit with minor gains as mild bargain hunting on selected index-linked stocks helped it to a positive close.
However, the key index surrendered most of its intraday gains amid the emergence of profit taking towards the end of the session.
Elsewhere, conditions were mixed with the technology sector gaining the most but market breadth stayed negative for the day. Traded volumes were also little changed from Monday.
We continue to see the market trending sideway in the day ahead as the wait-and-see stance is still dominating sentiments following the release of the country’s less-than-stellar 2Q 2023 GDP (gross domestic product) data last Friday.
At the same time, market players are still waiting for more corporate results to be released to gauge their prospects for the rest of the year while there are also few overseas leads to encourage further participation.
As a result, the key index is likely to continue building up a base around the 1,450 level for now.
The mild upsides are still present and this could allow the key index to continue making small strides over the near term. The immediate hurdle is at the 1,455 level, followed by the 1,460 level. The supports also remain at the 1,445 and 1,440 levels respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
Despite the local stock market ended higher yesterday, we believe the upside could be limited today as market breadth has turned negative with only a handful of sectors having charged higher.
Meanwhile, we believe Wall Street may shift towards a cautious stance ahead of Nvidia’s result. Also, the rising US Treasury yields and the US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell speech during the Jackson Hole meeting are crucial to watch out.
Hence, the softer trading activities tone may emerge today, affecting the performance on the lower liners and small caps.
Commodities-wise, Brent crude continues to hover above US$84/barrel while crude palm oil (CPO) prices violated below RM3,900/metric tonne
The FBM KLCI extended the rebound for another session. Technical indicators are still mixed with the MACD Histogram continues to stay in the negative region while the RSI is hovering above 50.
The key index may extend the rebound towards 1,460-1,465 resistance zone. Meanwhile, the support is located around 1,430-1,440. – Aug 23, 2023
