KUALA LUMPUR: The main stock index ended the early session slightly higher on Friday after the volatility seen in the previous day as traders' hopes for a concrete resolution to the Middle East conflict was dashed by talk of more attacks on Iran.
The FBM KLCI was up 2.56 points to 1,700.86, with the index looking set to close near a key psychological level in anticipation of further developments in the war.
At the time of writing, the UN Security Council was set to vote on a proposal to authorise countries to use defensive means to reopen the Straits of Hormuz to commercial shipping, although China is expected to veto the proposal as it opposed the use of force.
Brent crude was trading at just under US$110 a barrel, having soared nearly 8% following US President Donald Trump's televised address yesterday that did not give a timeline for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
On Bursa Malaysia, energy shares remained buoyant, gaining 0.84% while plantations shares jumped 1.4%. The utilities sectors, meanwhile, surged 2.19%.
Financial services weighed the most on the market, which slipped 0.85%. Bank shares sank, including Maybank down eight sne ot RM11.38, Public Bank falling three sen to RM4.68, CIMB dropping nine sen to RM7.50 and Hong Leong Bank losing 30 sne ot RM21.70.
Given the rebound from the previous day's sharp decline, the score board was registering a positive breadth of 582 advancing issues to 346 declining.
Volume was 1.83 billion shares valued RM1.42bil.
Most active shares were VS Industry dropping 0.5 sen to 18 sen, Top Glove, rising three sen to 79 sen and Supermax gaining 4.5 sen to 35 sen.
Meanwhile, regional markets were mixed with South Korea's Kospi bouncing 2.86% to 5,383 and Japan's Nikkei rising 1.1% to 53,038, while in China, the composite index dropped 0.93% to 3,882 and the CSI 300 fell 0.64% to 4,450.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.7% to 25,116.
