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MALAYSIA Airports Holdings Bhd (Code: 5014) looks to be making a year-end attempt to break out of the consolidation mode it has been trapped in since June 5.

The stock has made good gains over the past year, rising off the RM5.90 mark on Dec 28, 2016, to a historical peak of RM9.45 on June 5. In the ensuing descent, the stock has retraced about a quarter of its gains.

With just two trading weeks left to the new year, the airport counter looks to be headed the right direction for a breach of the short-term descending trend line.

However, to achieve that, it has to cross the RM8.80 to RM8.85 level in convincing fashion and make a beeline for RM9.17 where the next hurdle is pegged. The target above that would be the all-time-high of RM9.45

This latest attempt to free itself of negative pressure began mid-week, and saw the counter make three consecutive sessions of gains.

At an intra-day high of RM8.65 on Friday, the counter has made good strides towards its goal, but it still has some ways to go.

The technical indicators are looking healthy, however, given the upwards facing slow-stochastic momentum index and 14-day relative strength index, which suggests growing strength in the current trend.

The daily moving average convergence/ divergence histogram is similarly bullish, crossing the neutral line into positive territory for the first time since late September.

Trading volumes in the stock also look promising and showed a decent pick-up on Friday.

At the lower end of the chart, the 200day simple moving average (SMA) has remained largely intact since February this year, with a brief breach in the final week of November.

This bottom-most SMA serves to buoy the share price as the immediate support at RM8.20.

Below that, however, the next support level lies at RM7.86 which represents the counter’s lowest point since May.

#The comments above do not represent a recommendation to buy or sell.