Stocks on Bursa Malaysia finished in positive territory yesterday on late buying interest. A lack of fresh leads, coupled with the failure of Petronas to privatise MISC Bhd, weighed on the market the whole day. The FBM KLCI rose by 0.4 point to close at 1,706.68 compared with 1,706.28 last Friday. The market barometer hovered between 1,702.47 and 1,709.49 amid volatile trading. Losers more than doubled gainers by 462 to 212, with 287 counters unchanged. Volume rose to 784.62 million shares worth RM1.34 billion from last Friday's 776.416 million shares worth RM1.497 billion.
The FBM KLCI opened 3.02 points lower at 1,703.26 and slipped lower to the intra-day low of 1,702.47 within the first two minutes of trading. The key index rebounded strongly and surged to the intra-day high of 1,709.49 in the next ten minutes but failed to continue moving higher. It pulled back and slid lower gradually moving in a tight range before a last minute buying pushed it back to the positive territory. Chart-wise, the FBM KLCI formed a small white inverted hammer-like candlestick which indicates consolidation and support for the key index at the 1,702-point level, and the key index is likely to continue its current consolidation mode today moving within a range of 1,688 to 1,716.
MACD and its histogram continued to slide lower, indicating continued loss in the index's momentum. Nevertheless, MACD is still above the signal-line, and hence, the current weakness is more of a consolidation. RSI (14) was just marginally higher at 69.4 from 69.2, indicating a state of consolidation and the key index is still in the bullish zone. Stochastic hooked downward gently to 88 from 89.7, but is still above its slow stochastic line. Readings from the indicators showed that the FBM KLCI is currently in a consolidation mode.
The overall trend of the FBM KLCI remained up. However, for the immediate short term, the trend has turned sideways range-bound as the FBM KLCI has been moving range-bound within a small range of 1,701 to 1,712 over the last four sessions. The key index is likely to continue to consolidate above the 1,700-point level as support is seen to try to maintain the benchmark index at current level. Trading activity is likely to remain subdue for the period leading to the GE13 polling day.
Overnight, the Dow rose +19.66 points or +0.14% to close at 14,567.17. Today, the FBM KLCI is likely to trade within a range of 1,695 to 1,716.
This week's expected range: 1669 – 1735
Today’s expected range: 1695 – 1716
Resistance: 1710, 1713, 1716
Support: 1695, 1699, 1702