Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (March 23): The FBM KLCI is likely to trade range bound today with immediate hurdle seen at 1,881.

The threat of a global trade war pushed benchmark equity indexes in the United States and Europe deep into the red on Thursday and cut into commodity prices, a day after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates as expected, according to Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that could impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports from China. Under the terms of the memorandum, Trump will target the Chinese imports only after a consultation period, it said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 724.42 points, or 2.93 percent, to 23,957.89, the S&P 500 lost 68.24 points, or 2.52 percent, to 2,643.69 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 178.61 points, or 2.43 percent, to 7,166.68, said Reuters.

AllianceDBS Research in its evening edition Thursday said that supported by the up close in the preceding day, the FBM KLCI had on March 22 gapped up to settle at the day’s high of 1,876.87 (up 11.07 points or 0.59%) as market participants continued to play on the buying side in anticipation of a higher market.

“In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers with 518 stocks ending lower and 365 stocks finishing higher. That gave a market breadth of 0.70 indicating the bears were in better control,” it said.

AllianceDBS Research said the market registered a higher high on March 22 with an upside gap on the opening bell.

It said market participants were willing to play a buying game and the number of willing buyers was greater than the number of willing sellers, this can be seen from the upside gap which indicated the urgency on the part of the market participants to establish stock positions.

“As soon as the last selling order was filled at 1,865.83, market participants with unfilled buying orders decided to book the next available sellers in line.

“This pulled up the benchmark index into the 1,870 zone when an increasing buying order was chasing a decreasing selling order.

“Nonetheless, it was interesting to note that the market was able to keep the upside gap opened throughout the sessions, this exhibited the market buying strength,” it said.

The research house said following the up close on March 22, there should be buying attempt with immediate hurdle at 1,881.

It said an upside breakout of 1,881 would see the market gearing towards 1,896.

“The analysis of overall market action on March 22 revealed that buying power was stronger than selling pressure.

“As such, the FBM KLCI would likely trade above the 1,876.87 level on March 23,”said AllianceDBS Research.

Based on corporate announcements and news flow yesterday, companies in focus today may include: Eversendai Corp Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, Scientex Bhd, Ann Joo Resources Bhd, Bina Puri Holdings Bhd, Titijaya Land Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd, Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd and Advancecon Holdings Bhd.

 

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