KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia opened with mild optimism amid conflicting narratives over the status of negotiations to end the war in the Middle East.
Global investors have been buying up stock following US President Donald Trump's assertion that the conflict will end in the coming weeks, although Iran's Foreign Minister has indicated there are no negotiations underway.
At the time of writing, US President Donald Trump was delivering a televised address from the White House, reiterating his intention to end the conflict within weeks.
Asian markets opened mostly positive on Thursday, tracking Wall Street's overnight rally. Traders on the Malaysian market, however, were more cautious given the ongoing uncertainty.
At 9.10am, the FBM KLCI was 1.59 points higher at 1,710.49.
"For Malaysia, the FBMKLCI is expected to track external cues closely, with overall sentiment likely to remain cautious amid rising macro headwinds, pointing to a choppy near-term outlook," said Apex Research in its report.
"The FBM KLCI has rebounded back into its prevailing uptrend channel, suggesting that the broader bullish structure remains intact despite recent volatility.
"This indicates that the recent weakness was likely a healthy consolidation within the ongoing uptrend. Key support is seen at 1,695, with a break below this level potentially reigniting selling pressure."
On the blue-chip index, stocks gaining momentum included Maybank, rising six sen to RM11.72, Press Metal
adding 23 sen to RM8.18, MISC adding five sen to RM8.25
Of actives VS Industry rose 0.5 sen to 20.5 sen, Velesto was unchanged at 34 sne and Bumi Armada was also flat at 34 sen.
