Proton models for China

By Star Biz

Proton Holdings Bhd, which is supplying Gen.2 cars to China-based Jinhua Youngman Automobile Group Ltd, is looking at exporting other models to the country in order to capture a larger market.

Head of China business Teo Aeng Kyet said Proton was negotiating with its Chinese partner to introduce different models in China.

“We have an agreement to supply 30,000 Gen.2 to Jinhua Youngman. We are also discussing with our partner to increase the order,” he told a media briefing prior to the second shipment of 348 Gen.2 to China yesterday.

“A total of 1,600 units of Gen.2 is scheduled to be shipped to China by end of next month in order to facilitate Jinhua Youngman’s sales launch programme in China,” he said.

To date, Proton has shipped 408 of the 30,000 units ordered by Jinhua Youngman. Proton will continue to ship 1,500 units of Gen.2 monthly over the next 20 months to fulfil the order.

Proton and Jinhua Youngman, a leading commercial vehicle manufacturer in China with a licence to produce passenger cars, signed an agreement on July 13 under which Proton cars would be re-badged as “Europestar” in China.

Teo said for a start, Proton was selling completely built-up units to Jinhua Youngman.

“Subsequently, we will supply engines and completely knocked-down units (CKD) of several Proton models to Jinhua Youngman for assembly,” he said.

He added that the plant for Proton CKD was expected to begin operating in mid-2008.

Jinhua Youngman quality director Ma Wei Dong said the group had appointed 40 dealers in China to support the launch in January.

He said the group expected to double its sales of Proton cars in China in two to three years. However, Ma declined to elaborate as the negotiation between Jinhua Youngman and Proton was ongoing.

He said the company was confident of Proton cars as all 348 units of Gen.2 in the second shipment had been fully booked ahead of Chinese New Year in February.

“We will consider ordering more cars from Proton in the future. We are satisfied with the quality of the car,” he said adding that currently, car ownership in China is only about 1% of the population.

With the middle-income group expanding, spurred by economic growth that is expected to be above 8% annually, the car market is forecast to expand by 20% to 30% annually in the next few years.

*Everyone is goin to China, do u think our very own national car maker will make it?? haha.. Big Question!

WHat's install for 2008

By Biz Times

INVESTORS should be prepared for unforeseen shocks that could substantially threaten the robustness of the global economy in 2008, HwangDBS Investment Management Bhd (HwangDBS IM) chief executive officer and executive director Teng Chee Wai said.

He said the stage should be set for a weak US dollar to continue into next year, although he believes the Malaysian economy will be able to withstand external shocks including a recession in the US.

In a statement, Teng said the recent financial crisis has the potential to be a blessing in disguise for Asia and may present an opportunity for the region to showcase its resilience.
A dampened US economic outlook should increase the urgency within Asia to step up efforts to shift its growth dependency away from external demand, and to steer fiscal/monetary policies towards boosting demand.

This process should be facilitated by orderly adjustments in their undervalued currencies, stronger balance of payments and improved international liquidity positions.

"With the US consumer encumbered by mortgage financing woes, the rise of the Asian consumer should attract the attention of foreign investors. At the country level, it is the countries where domestic demand has been strongest - such as Singapore and Malaysia - where there has been the largest disconnect between the earnings cycle and the US economic cycle," he said.

HwangDBS IM recently launched its first performance-based fund, the HwangDBS Ascendur RIS 1 (HARIS1).

Targeted at the mass affluent, the unique features of the fund are the lower sales charge or front-end fees of a maximum charge of two per cent as opposed to the four to six per cent characteristic of equity unit trust funds, as well as the performance attribute which allows the manager to levy a performance fee if HARIS1 exceeds the pre-determined minimum return benchmark at eight per cent per annum.

The launch of HARIS1 represents HwangDBS IM's eighth fund for 2007.

Teng said the unique features challenge market convention but are necessary in the increasingly competitive marketplace.

"Managing absolute return mandates or funds is nothing new to HwangDBS IM. When we started out in 2001, it was a surprise to the industry when we set an absolute performance benchmark and included a fee on the performance as an incentive for the manager, in the event of positive performance.

"Since then, such features have become more common but somewhat limited to the management of discretionary mandates. Our main objective in bringing such a fund to the local market is to plug the gap between the mass retail and such services by introducing a product targeted specifically at the mass affluent but with elements of a discretionary mandate.

"At the same time we aim to ensure that investors are able to potentially reap more meaningful returns because of the lower fees," Teng said.

HARIS1 will primarily invest in equity securities of developed and emerging markets globally. It may also invest in fixed income securities of developed markets or debt instruments.

HARIS1 has an approved size of 200 million units priced at RM0.50 per unit. The minimum initial investment sum is set at RM500,000 and the minimum additional investment is RM100,000.

HARIS1 is a mixed securities and growth type fund targeted at medium to long-term investors who are risk tolerant and are seeking higher capital returns on their investments.

Malaysia way ahead in Islamic finance

By The Edge

Malaysia has the capacity to retain its leadership in global Islamic finance despite the emergence of competition from centres such as Hong Kong and Dubai, CIMB Islamic chief executive officer Badlisyah Abdul Ghani said.

He said despite the stiff competition that Malaysia was facing, it was way ahead of other countries in terms of product offerings and its sophistication, having been developing the market for the last 40 years.

Britain, Singapore, Dubai have recently joined the race to offer Islamic banking and investment products to investors, each vying to become the international hub for Islamic finance. Japan recently also expressed interest in launching a government sukuk.

In October, Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang had said the city would emulate Malaysia and Singapore as a centre for Islamic finance, in an effort to grab a slice of the thriving market.

It is believed that Hong Kong will be the biggest beneficiary being the gateway to the sought-after market in China.

Badlisyah said, however, the rise of new Islamic markets did not signify that Malaysia would be at the losing end.

“The launch of the Malaysian International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) encapsulates all the competitive edge Malaysia has in the Islamic financial market into one brand entity.

“MIFC is second to none as a global hub for Islamic finance as it is still the only country in the world that has the most comprehensive regulatory, legal and Syariah framework for the business. All these other financial centres are effectively new kids on the block,” he told The Edge Financial Daily in an email interview recently.

Badlisyah said: “There is a lot of development being reported on Islamic finance in Hong Kong and Singapore. However, it is still early days for them. Providing double stamp duty exemptions, as being done in the UK, and allowing Murabahah in Singapore is very good progress, but still insufficient to facilitate a robust Islamic finance industry.”

He said Malaysia boasted some of the largest Islamic financial instruments globally, besides being the largest sukuk issuer in the world. Malaysia retains the world’s largest Islamic bond market, accounting for about US$47 billion (RM157.54 billion), representing two-thirds of total Islamic bonds outstanding worldwide.

“The Islamic banking sector in Malaysia is the largest in Asia, and remains the only one in the world that has an active and effective Islamic money market.

“Bursa Malaysia is the largest Islamic stock exchange in the world, with about 86% of shares listed being Syariah-compliant stocks,” he said, adding that Malaysia also had the largest takaful market globally, in which, the biggest Takaful operators were Malaysians.

He, however, said Malaysia needed to develop and grow its brand, to keep its competitiveness as a pioneer and leader in Islamic finance.

“Malaysia needs to continuously and effectively market itself as the hub for investment flows from the Middle East to the Far East, (as it) is the epicentre of the Old Silk Route, and now for the New Silk Route,” he said. Badlisyah added that Malaysia needed to develop MIFC as a global brand.

Additionally, Badlisyah said a lot more needed to be done as Islamic finance had much potential that was still untapped. He said: “There is room for a lot of financial centres in the global Islamic financial market, just as the conventional market has many financial centres.”

“As a global player in the Islamic financial market, we are excited with the advent of the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore as effective financial centres or platforms in undertaking Islamic banking and finance. We hope they would become as successful as Malaysia so that the market can grow globally,” he added.

*Being a leading aka role model Islamic Country, i really think that there are huge potential for Islamic Finance to grow big in Malaysia.

Confident of 6% growth??

By Star Biz

Malaysia is confident that it can achieve its projected target of economic growth of between 6% and 6.5% next year, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said.

He said that based on the growth momentum in the third quarter of this year, the country could achieve a growth rate of higher than 6% in 2008, while the projected inflation rate should be at 2%.

Nor Mohamed said the projected positive growth of the country's economic performance was based on the healthy developments in the investment sector and the increased dividends given to investors by several major funds such as Amanah Saham Berhad Bumiputra (ASB), Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Tabung Haji and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT). The higher dividends and returns by the funds reflected the confidence shown in Bursa Malaysia and the economy, he told reporters at Parliament House on Wednesday.

The Bursa index gained an impressive 1385 points on Tuesday with a market value of more than one trillion ringgit, he noted.

"There will be challenges for next year, such as the sub-prime issue in the United States which had not tapered off yet.

"But we have met more serious challenges before this,” he said.

Nor Mohamed said the government is also confident of reducing the economic deficit to 3.1% in 2008 from 3.2% this year.

*Personally i think the economy wouldn't be so stable next year! But we'll c!

KL shares down for 5th straight day

By Biz Times

MALAYSIAN share prices extended their losses for the fifth consecutive day today amid an overnight slump on Wall Street and continued concerns over the US economy.

At close, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) declined 6.16 points or 0.44 per cent to 1,385.45 after opening 3.79 points lower at 1,387.82.

Property, construction and finance counters led the fall in the local bourse today, which touched an intra-day day low of 1,382.44, or down 9.17 points, dealers said.

There were some eleventh hour bargain-hunting in the lower liners but not sufficient to lift the overall bearish market, said one dealer.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Index fell for the second consecutive day overnight by 172.65 points to 13,167.2. Last Friday, it dropped 178 points.

The latest sell-off was triggered by renewed concern on the US economic growth on the back of uncertainty over the magnitude of subprime losses, financial impact on mortgage lenders, repricing of credit risk, sky-high crude oil price and weaker consumer spending, according to SBB Securities.

“Given the high degree of uncertainty, we doubt investors would stray too far from the sidelines, at least for now. The local bourse will likely take its cue from the US and regional market,” it said in its research report.

Immediate support and resistance has been put at 1,370 and 1,400 respectively.

The industrial and technology indices bucked the market trend today.
The Industrial Index jumped 14.77 points to 2,898.35 and the Technology Index perked 0.10 of a point to 2318. The Finance Index, meanwhile, fell 59.92 points to 10,556.6.

The FBMEmas dropped 46.42 points to 9,396.3 and the FBM30 went down 45.82 points to 8,945.94.

The FBM2BRD shed 9.44 points to 6,618.24 and the FBM-MDQ was 30.25 points lower at 5,872.34. Decliners led advancers by 440 to 319 while 351 counters were unchanged, 302 untraded and 26 suspended.

Volume amounted to 779.655 million shares worth RM1.611 billion, up from 719.414 million shares worth RM1.411 billion traded yesterday.

*Wait wait and wait! Den its time to go in! hehe..

Lower sales charges on Unit Trust

By Star Biz

The investing public and unit trust agents will benefit from reduced service charges for unit trust investments funded by Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions.

The EPF recently announced that service charge (including commissions) by unit trust companies for investments by EPF members would be capped at 3% from 6% starting Jan 1.

Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk S. Veerasingam said that if the charges were reduced, people would invest more and this would mean an increase in sales for unit trust agents.

”By taking 6%, the investment will set back the EPF contributor by a large amount.

“For example, if the investment was RM100,000, RM6,000 would be taken by the unit trust companies, reducing the investments to RM94,000.

“But at 3%, the invested amount will be RM97,000,” he said.

Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers (FMUTM) president, Tunku Datuk Yaacob Tunku Abdullah said the ruling would hurt profits.

He felt that the 3% rate would cut their income by half.

Overall, unit trust companies have performed well this year, with RM155bil in funds as at the end of September, an increase of 28% from last year’s RM121bil.

Fomca secretary-general Muhammad Shaani Abdullah said that it was a good move by EPF, adding that in line with this, Bank Negara should also reduce the service charges for individuals using their own funds to buy unit trusts.

*Good News, lower sales charge means more investment and more units/returns the investor can garner! hehe..

Economy may grow faster on rise of biodiesel sector

By Biz Times

THE Malaysian economy is expected to achieve more rapid growth with the rise of the biodiesel industry, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today.

He said worldwide demand for biodiesel is expected to increase significantly in the near future, providing a boost for Malaysia as the major producer of palm oil.

“Worldwide demand for biodiesel is expected to explode and this will ensure that the price (of palm oil) is at a satisfactory and stable level,” Najib said.

“So we don’t have worry about the palm oil price falling to a low level as it did before,” he told reporters after officiating the biodiesel factory of Mission Biotechnologies Sdn Bhd at Kuantan port.

Also present were Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, Mission Biotechnologies’ chairman Tan Sri Razak Ramli and Mission Biofuels Ltd Australia’s chairman Dario Amara.

Najib said analysts have forecast that the palm oil price, now at RM2,900 per tonne, will not fall below the RM2,400 per tonne level with expansion of the industry.

On competition from other countries, he said Malaysia has a major edge, especially in the supply of palm oil.

In his speech, Najib said the government plans to increase palm oil output by another 30 per cent by 2010 to cater to export demand as well as demand from biodiesel producers.

He said Malaysia is now producing 15 million tonnes per annum and the demand for biodiesel is expected to triple to 30 million tonnes by 2010.

*The KLCI closed 0.92% or 13.16 points lower at 1,410.56. I think Growth will also be slower over the next two quarters

KL Composite Index hit another all-time high of 1,440.39 points

By Star Biz

THE benchmark KL Composite Index hit another all-time high of 1,440.39 points on Thursday.

While this means that blue-chip counters have done well, many mid-cap, small-cap and fledgling stocks are still languishing in the market, attracting little investor interest.

This lack of a broad-based rally has been attributed mainly to retail participation having dried up in the market or is still there but pretty cautious, depending on who you talk with.

The culprit for this is widely felt to be the drop in the market from 1,283.47 points on Feb 23 to 1,110.69 on March 5, and the fall from 1,392.18 points on July 24 to 1,192.55 on Aug 17, sparked by the subprime woes in the US that caught out many retail investors.

To jog the memory, February's drop was sparked by the widespread but short-lived Shanghai contagion.

Thus, retail investors have become understandably cautious. They could be “locked up” in stale bulls from the February or July market dips and did not have the funds to participate in the market.

“Too low to sell out or not high enough to cash out,” said a chartist.

The market needs to attract retail investors, which is essential to a healthy stock market and healthy rallies, but they will not be back until it is worthwhile and less risky to do so.

MIMB Investment Bank head of research Pong Teng Siew believes that apart from some losing money during the two major dips this year, retail investors are becoming more perceptive of the market than before.

“Retail investors are more perceptive now and they can see market rally is more focused, so they are investing more cautiously,” he said.

Pong said he would ideally like to see a gradual and predictable rise in prices of counters rather than them shooting up in a short time maybe past valuations and then falling suddenly.

“I hate to see investors lose money. I would like counters to have sustainable growth in a predictable way.”

He also said the stock market should not rise in a way that was out of step with economic growth and beyond what could be sustained by domestic investors.

In the current market, Pong suggested a stock picking on key counters, as the rally was at present much more focused.

A broad-based rally was always preferable to a focused rally as it benefited a wider base of investors and encouraged participation in the market, he added.

Another analyst said for there to be a broad-based rally in the market, there had to be liquidity both from foreign and domestic sources, but no one was sure when this would happen.

With the US market “climbing a wall of worry” that included subprime issues, high oil prices and worrying economic data, liquidity was unlikely to flow into global markets in the short to medium term, he said.

There is also the issue of investors everywhere finding it better not to have a position before the upcoming Dec 11 Federal Reserve committee meeting.

Malaysian plantation, oil and gas stocks shine

By Biz Times

SHARES on Bursa Malaysia ended higher yesterday as buying of plantation and oil and gas key heavyweights led the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) to close at an all-time high of 1,427.77, up 11.96 points or 0.84 per cent, a dealer said.

MIMB Investment Bank head of research Pong Teng Siew said the market rally was led by blue-chips like Sime Darby and IOI Corp.

"Obviously the re-listing of Sime Darby had provided a fresh impetus for the market and gave an upside to the KLCI," he noted.

He pointed out that as Malaysia is more commodity-driven, the local bourse had even outperformed some of its regional peers.

"Malaysia is also fortunate that at a time when some parts of the world are facing slower growth, government spending here has increased," said Pong.

The Finance Index surged 76.79 points to 10,913.6 and the Industrial Index rose 40 points to 2,960.77.

Of the FTSE-BM Index series, the FBMEmas rose 68.58 points to 9,633.07 and the FBM30, which comprises the top 30 companies by full market capitalisation, advanced 46.44 points to 9,156.56.

The FBM-MDQ went up by 75.31 points to 6,048.95 and FBM2BRD gained 42.53 points to 6,798.02.

SJ Securities analyst Phua Kwee Hock said the rise in crude oil prices to US$88.61 (RM255.95) yesterday had rallied the plantation stocks which in turn led the KLCI to touch a new high.

He expects the market to trade between 1,418 and 1,436 today.

Actives included Bio Osmo which fell 4.5 sen to 28.5 sen, FTEC Resources gained one sen to 37 sen, Supercomal Technologies inched up half sen to 15.5 sen and Hubline gained 1.5 sen to 62 sen. KBES went up five sen to 42 sen and Time Dotcom increased 4.5 sen to 80.5 sen.

Among blue chips, Sime Darby rose 30 sen to RM11.30, Maybank went up 10 sen to RM11.70, Tenaga Nasional was flat at RM9.90, Telekom Malaysia fell 30 sen to RM11.40 and IOI Corp increased 20 sen to RM6.85.

Meanwhile, KLCI futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended higher yesterday on the back of a firmer cash market.

At the close, spot December rose 29 points to 1,445.0, January 2008 futures gained 31 points to 1,443.0, March 2008 added 29.5 points to 1,431.5 and faraway June 2008 futures climbed 28 points to 1,412.0.

Volume rose to 9,107 lots from Tuesday's 5,950 lots and open interest went up to 32,029 contracts from 31,096 previously.

*The KLCI surge again today! Its 5mins to closing! I personally think oil and gas are the shares that give good returns in the long term and short term investment, as the world is thirst for this commodity.!

Public Mutual funds

By The Edge

Public Bank’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Public Mutual declared distributions for eight of its funds. The gross distributions declared were for the financial year ended Nov 30, 2007.

Public Mutual declared a gross distribution of 10 sen per unit for Public Ittikal Fund, 5.5 sen per unit for Public Dividend Select Fund and 5 sen per unit for Public Islamic Equity Fund.

The three funds topped the gross distribution list for the total eight funds.

Public Mutual chairman Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow said Public Ittikal Fund, Public Dividend Select Fund and Public Islamic Equity Fund had generated a one-year return of 37.43%, 36.63% and 40.04% respectively for the period ended Nov 16, 2007, according to the Edge-Lipper fund table dated Nov 26, 2007.

As for Public Far-East Select Fund and Public Regional Sector Fund, both funds have generated a one-year return of 43.19% and 35.42% respectively for the same period.

Both funds have outperformed their benchmarks of 33.1% and 29.53% respectively for the same period.

Launched in Nov, 2006, Public Far-East Dividend Fund has generated a six-month return of 11.69% for the same period ended Nov 16, 2007.

Public Balanced Fund had also outperformed its benchmark of 21.11% with a one-year return of 31.71% for the same period. Meanwhile, Public Islamic Balanced Fund registered a one-year return of 23.46% for the same period.

Public Mutual currently manages 54 funds for more than 1.3 million account holders. As at Oct 31, 2007, the total net asset value of the funds managed was RM26.7 billion.

Is there anymore opportunity to invest in those 3funds? (Public Ittikal Fund, Public Dividend Select Fund and Public Islamic Equity Fund) Since there are mass media reporting how good is those funds are! If you are really interested, get a copy of personal money from any newsstand, bookstore and etc to analyse yourself.

Mobile Internet is expected to grow in Asia

By Star Biz

INTERNET company Yahoo! Inc is bullish about its mobile Internet and search services in Asia, as demand for it is expected to grow at an accelerated pace.

Yahoo! Connected Life Asia vice-president and general manager David Ko said that as mobile devices advanced technologically and carriers improved networks and data transfer rates, so would the adoption of mobile Internet and search services.

“We believe most people in Asia are likely to access the Internet through their (mobile) phones first, rather than computers,” he told StarBiz at Mobile Asia Congress in Macau recently.

Ko said Malaysia's mobile Internet access devices market, according to IDC Malaysia, was expected to grow 61% and accounted for nearly 45% of total Internet access devices this year.

“This growth will only encourage the need for relevant mobile information and Yahoo! is well positioned in this space,” he said.

When asked on the take up of Yahoo!'s mobile Internet services in Malaysia, he said, without disclosing numbers, that there was “good usage patterns for Yahoo! Go downloads” and that search usage was increasing steadily.

Yahoo! Go is an application that brings together services that includes email, search and address book, which allow people to stay connected whenever and wherever they are.

The company, Ko said had also fundamentally changed the way consumers' access and use Internet content and services on mobiles devices when it launched Yahoo! oneSearch earlier this year.

Yahoo! oneSearch is designed for mobile devices, delivering results directly on the first screen and thereby removing the need for consumers to navigate through a sea of links to other websites to find the information they want.

“Search is a service mobile operators want to provide to their customers. We currently have the ability to reach over 200 million consumers globally with oneSearch and this number is set to grow, especially in Asia Pacific, since we've just announced several more partnerships at Mobile Asia Congress,” he said.

The partnership deals unveiled last month included three Indian carriers (Aircel Ltd, BPL Mobile and BSNL) Malaysian carrier DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Indonesian carriers Hutch 3, Indosat and Excelcom, PCCW Mobile HK Ltd of Hong Kong and Singapore's Starhub Ltd.

These deals, which build on six earlier Asian carrier partnerships announced in June, have expanded Yahoo!'s reach in Asia Pacific to 16 oneSearch operator partnerships.

With the critical mass of mobile Internet users, Ko said marketers and advertisers could extend and further strengthen their online advertising strategies by tapping mobile advertising.

“Building a compelling user experience is a pre-requisite for monetisation,” he said, adding that Yahoo!'s aim was to provide users a robust and compelling user experience regardless of network and device.

Ko also pointed out that Malaysia's online advertising growth was expected to outpace the global market.

“It is growing at a promising rate and we expect it to follow suit like the US, where it has exceeded 5% of total ad spending,” he said, citing ABI Research's forecast that global mobile marketing and advertising was expected to grow six fold to US$19bil by 2011 from an estimated US$3bil by end 2007.

So what do u guys think? There should be opportunity to expand some new gadget to the market!

*The KLCI did surge 17 points today! We shall observe until Friday.

Is KLCI going to regain next week?

By Biz Times

STRONG gains on Wall Street and the trading of the world's largest plantation group, Sime Darby Bhd, drove the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) sharply higher yesterday, briefly breaching its major psychological resistance of 1,400.

The KLCI gapped up in the opening trade on Monday before closing at 1,364.37, giving a day-on-day gain of 10.82 points, or 0.80 per cent.

The KLCI staged a late rebound on Tuesday to close at 1,364.99, giving a day-on-day gain of 0.62 point, or 0.05 per cent.

Sentiment was firm on Wednesday as the KLCI closed at 1,366.58 points, giving a day-on-day gain of 1.59 points, or 0.12 per cent.

The next day, share continued to rise pushing the KLCI to close at 1,374.32, giving a day-on-day gain of 7.74 points, or 0.57 per cent.

Trading of Sime Darby led the KLCI yesterday to briefly breached its major psychological resistance of 1,400. The KLCI finished the week at 1,396.98, recording a day-on-day gain of 22.66 points, or 1.65 per cent.

The KLCI rebounded to close at 1,396.98 yesterday, posting a week-on-week gain of 43.43 points, or 3.21 per cent.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Second Board Index fell 131.68 points, or 1.93 per cent, to 6,699.01, while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Mesdaq Index lost 269.09 points, or 4.35 per cent, to 5,912.80 level.

Following are the readings of some of its technical indicators.

Moving Averages: The KLCI stayed above its 10-, 20-, 30-, 50-, 100- and 2000-day moving averages after the sharp technical rebound yesterday.

Momentum Index: Its short-term momentum index staged a successful re-penetration of its neutral reference line.

On Balance Volume: Its short-term OBV trend continued to stay above its 10-day exponential moving averages.

Relative Strength Index: Its 14-day RSI stood at the 59.57 per cent level yesterday.

Outlook

The KLCI touched its intra-week high of 1,408.32 yesterday, breaching this column's envisaged resistance zone (1,357 to 1,387 levels). Chartwise, the KLCI rose after the successful re-test of its immediate downside support (See KLCI's monthly chart - A3:A4).

The KLCI's rise bounced off the support of its immediate parallel trendline support (See KLCI's daily chart - B3:B4) towards its immediate overhead resistance (B5:B6).

The KLCI's daily fast Mmoving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) indicator staged a "golden cross" of its daily slow MACD yesterday.

Its monthly fast MACD continued to stay above its monthly slow MACD.

The KLCI's 14-day RSI stayed at 59.57 per cent level yesterday. Its 14-week and 14-month RSI stayed at 59.67 and 75.05 per cent levels respectively.

Following the gains on Wall Street and regional markets, the KLCI has managed to regain its momentum to stage another technical re-challenge of its major psychological resistance of 1,400.

The KLCI will gyrate around its major psychological resistance/support of 1,400.

Next week, the KLCI's overhead resistance hovers between 1,400 and 1,434 points, while its downside support lies between 1,359 ans 1,393 points.

The subject expressed above is based purely on technical analysis and opinions of the writer. It is not a solicitation to buy or sell.