BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
Malaysian equities ended the shortened trading session last Thursday on a firm note, helped by the push on selected stocks on Bursa Malaysia ahead of the Lunar New Year break.
This saw the key index close-in on the 1,600 level at the end of the session. The gains also permeated to the broader market with many lower liner stocks chalking up decent gains, particularly among technology-related counters with the technology index closing at another new high.
We see further near-term upsides as we think momentum among Malaysian equities is building up following its recent bounce.
Its uptrend is also helped by the prognosis that the worst of the economic malaise from the pandemic is likely to ease with the COVID-19 vaccine availability next month.
This, coupled with the sustained gains in most overseas indices over the past few sessions, should help to provide more near-term impetuses for Malaysian equities to make further headway.
As such, we think that the 1,600 points level is likely to be taken out with relative ease as the key index sets its sights on the next targets at the 1,620 and 1,645 levels.
In the interim, there is a minor resistance at the 1,610 level, while the supports are at 1,586 and 1,570 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
Despite the sharper-than-expected economic contraction of -3.4% in 4Q 2020, the FBM KLCI inched up ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday as investors may have priced in the impact of the ongoing movement control order (MCO 2.0).
We expect the positive sentiment on Wall Street overnight to spill-over to stocks on the local front as market players should re-focus after the long break ahead of the full blown reporting season.
Meanwhile, we noticed crude oil price has surged above US$62/barrel firmly last week.
The FBM KLCI closed near the 1,600 psychological level on Thursday’s half-day trading with milder trading volume. As the key index was pushed further from the support level of 1,550-1,560, we expect it will trade range bound within 1,580-1,610.
Resistance is pegged around 1,600. Meanwhile, technical indicators are turning slightly positive as MACD Histogram extended another green bar and RSI has rose above 50. – Feb 15, 2021
