KUALA LUMPUR (June 9): The FBM KLCI is expected to remain range bound and consolidate between 1,778 and 1,795 today, going into the weekend.
U.S. and European stocks were little changed on Thursday as investors digested testimony from former FBI Director James Comey before a Senate panel, while the euro fell after the European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold and oil prices briefly touched one-month lows, according to Reuters.
Comey told U.S. lawmakers in the congressional hearing he had no doubt that Russia had interfered with the 2016 election but was confident that no votes had been altered. The Dow briefly hit a record intraday high of 21,265.69 during the testimony, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at a record high after a boost from Yahoo and Nvidia shares, it said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 8.84 points, or 0.04 percent, at 21,182.53. The S&P 500 closed up 0.65 points, or 0.03 percent, at 2,433.79. The Nasdaq Composite ended up 24.38 points, or 0.39 percent, at 6,321.76, said Reuters.
AllianceDBS Research in its evening edition Thursday said that dampened by the down close in the preceding day, the FBM KLCI had on June 8 traded lower to 1,783.13 as market participants continued to play on the selling side in anticipation of a lower market.
However, it said weak follow through selling interest in the area of 1,783.13 prompted supportive buying interest to chip in. This lifted the benchmark index to 1,789.02 before settling at 1,785.57 (down 0.35 points or 0.02%).
“In the broader market, losers outnumbered gainers with 459 stocks ending lower and 419 stocks finishing higher. That gave a market breadth of 0.91 indicating the bears were in better control with the bulls closely matched,” it said.
AllianceDBS Research said the lower low on June 8 was expected given the weak down close in the previous day.
“But, the market did not go far down as market participants chose to be conservative in their selling game for fear of sudden market reversal.
“These market participants simply want to be objective in the market they are trading, they look at the current market environment and the market trend before parting their investible money,” it said.
The research house said in the absence of breaking news, the market is thus expected to consolidate between 1,778 and 1,795 in the coming few days.
It said a crossover of 1,795 would see the market gearing towards 1,800.
“The analysis of overall market action on June 8 revealed that buying power was stronger than selling pressure.
“As such, the FBM KLCI would likely trade above the 1,789.02 level on June 9,” said AllianceDBS Research.
Based on corporate announcements and news flow yesterday, stocks in focus today may include: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd, AMMB Holdings Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Scomi Engineering Bhd, Asia Bioenergy Technologies Bhd, AirAsia Bhd, Sinmah Capital Bhd, Ire-Tex Corp Bhd and Mitrajaya Holdings Bhd.