KLCI rises towards 1,690 resistance on global lift

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI breached the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) and inched higher towards a resistance at 1,690 in the opening minutes of trade.

At 9.05am, the index was up 2.84 points to 1,686.46. Trading volume was 141.23 million shares valued at RM57.61mil. There were 129 gainers versus 105 decliners and 187 counters unchanged.

Kenanga research noted that the technical outlook on the KLCI remained bullish given its crossing of key SMAs recently.

“Resistance can be found at 1,690 (R1); a break above should see the index trend higher towards 1,730 (R2). Conversely, downside supports can be identified at 1,650 (S1) and 1,600 (S2),” it said.

Overnight, Wall Street rallied on the trade truce between the US and China with the S&P500 Index forging a new record in intra-day trading.

The major indices ended the session 0.4% to 1.1% higher, reflecting the uptick in investor sentiment over prospects for the global economy.

Among early openers in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei Index rose 0.1%, Australis’ ASX200 gained 0.2% and South Korea’s Kospi Index slid 0.1%.

On Bursa Malaysia, trading action was highest at Compugates sliding 0.5 sen to two sen, Ikhmas rising 0.5 sen to 23.5 sen and Prestariang flat at 45.5 sen.

Heavyweights seeing notable price action included Nestle rising 70 sen to RM149.10, Hong Leong Financial Group climbing 10 sen to RM18.62, Petronas Dagangan adding eight sen to RM1.38 and RHB gaining six sen to RM5.84.

Hartalega was on the downtrend, losing six sen to RM5.20, while IOI lost two sen to RM4.22.

Meanwhile, oil price retreated despite Opec’s recent decision to extend supply cuts into 2020.

With the commodity’s prices having risen in the previous session following Russia’s agreement with Saudi Arabia to lead production cuts, investors turned to selling amid concerns over the slowing economy.

Brent crude fell 38 cents to US$58.10 a barrel and US crude dropped 26 cents to US$64.80 a barrel.

Source: TheStar