KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market started the second quarter of the trading year on a strong footing as investors were spurred on by the bullish momentum see in US markets last Friday.
The benchmark FBM KLCI rose 4.18 points to 1,426.77 at the opening bell, resuming the recovery that was seen last week.
According to Kenanga Research, the local bourse may have found its immediate footing after staging a recovery from its recent slump.
The blue-chip index was seen gaining 22.9 points or 1.6% last week to log its first weekly increase in six weeks while market breadth was positive in three of the five trading days.
The research house expects a more optimistic outlook in April going by the historical record.
“Statistically, the odds are favourable as the benchmark index had finished in positive territory in April in seven of the last 10 years – including the most recent three years – to register an average monthly return of 0.9% since 2013,” said the research house in a note,” it said in a note.
From a technical standpoint, it said the FBM KLCI has temporarily regained its footing after sliding from a recent high of 1,502 in the second half of January this year to as low as 1,397 last week, testing its first support line of 1,395 (S1) along the way.
“Following the ensuing bounce-off from S1, the bellwether could carry on the positive momentum although any further run-up will likely be blocked by our immediate resistance barrier of 1,440 with the 50-day SMA still hovering below the 100-day SMA.
“On balance, we reckon the FBM KLCI could tread sideways with a slight downward bias ahead,” it said.
On the FBM KLCI, PETRONAS Chemicals was seen leading the advance as it rose 14 sen to RM7.21.
Bank stocks were also improved with Maybank rising three sen to RM8.60, Public Bank gaining three sne to RM4.03, CIMB adding three sen to RM 5.34, RHB climbing three sen to RM5.61 and Hong Leong Bank adding 18 sen to RM20.40.
Press Metal was up six sen to RMRM4.93, MISC gained 10 sen to RM7.32 and IHH rose five sen to RM5.80.
Top actives of the day were dominated by oil and gas-related counters including Velesto up 0.5 sen to 21.5 sen, Hibiscus rising eight sne to RM1.07, Perdana adding 1.5 sne to 20 sen and Bumi Armada jumping 3.5 sen to 66.5 sen.
MMAG was the the most active counter, up 0.5 sen to 2.5 sen. – The Star