KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's equity index was little changed at the opening bell as investors attempted to stage a rebound following the sharp selling on the final trading day of September.
The passing of the US bill that averted a government shutdown last Friday has helped to return some optimism to global markets.
According to Malacca Securities Research, the it expects the overall stock markets to head higher for at least the near term.
"Closer to home, we opine that the positive developments within the NETR, NIMP as well as the upcoming Budget 2024 may provide trading opportunities on the local exchange," it said in a note.
At 9am, the benchmark FBM KLCI was down 0.1 points to 1,424.07.
Bank stocks attempted to come back from the losses made in the previous session. Maybank was up one sen to RM8.80, Public Bank rose three sen to RM4.09, Hong Leong Bank added four sen to RM19.54 while CIMB gained one sen to RM5.44.
Tenaga Nasional was down eight sen to RM9.91, PETRONAS Chemicals shed six sen to RM7.13 and IHH fell three sen to RM5.82.
Meanwhile, top actives included EMCC up one sen to 43.5 sen, Tanco down 0.5 sen to 54.5 sen and KAB rising 0.5 sen to 34.5 sen.
