BELOW are excerpts of viewpoints from two selected research houses on what investors can expect in the day ahead:
Inter-Pacific Research
The sell-down on glove maker stocks sent the FBM KLCI lower yesterday. This follows the banning of Top Glove’s products into the US on forced labour issues.
Nevertheless, gains in banking stocks cushioned the key index’s decline and helped it to end the day off its lows.
Meanwhile, the lower liners and broader market shares were mixed-to-lower with market breadth remaining negative and traded volumes still on the tepid side.
We continue to think that the near-term market environment is likely to stay mostly indifferent with sentiments curtailed by the ongoing apprehensions over glove marker stocks and the lack of leads – a trend that has engulfed the market for most of the month.
However, we also think the any selling or continuing profit taking is likely to be supported by an expected mild end-of-quarter book closing action.
As such, we think the key index is set to remain range-bound for longer, lingering within the 1,600 and 1,620 levels for the time being.
Beyond the above levels, the other support and resistance are located at 1,590 and 1,640 points respectively.
Malacca Securities Research
The FBM KLCI closed with modest losses as the key index succumbed to the sell-down in index-linked glove counters.
Tracking the negative performance on the Wall Street overnight, we expect the FBM KLCI and the broader to trend sideways at least for the near term.
Meanwhile, oil prices declined as investors looked beyond the Suez Canal incident and traded cautiously prior to the upcoming OPEC+ meeting.
However, we noticed that there might see some trading interest within technology stocks going forward with the media reporting on the chip crunch situation amid the US-China tension.
The FBM KLCI staged a mild pullback after two sessions of gains. Technical indicators turned positive as the MACD Histogram has extended another green bar while the RSI is slightly above 50.
However, under the cautious market environment, we expect the key index to trade sideways with resistance set along 1,625-1,645, while support is pegged at 1,580-1,600. – March 31, 2021
