Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index dipped 18 points, while the Nasdaq added 29 points with the US Treasury 10-year yield inching higher to 3.90%.

“Back home, whether the FBM KLCI index could test the 1,500 level over the last four trading days in 2023 remains to be seen.

“For today, we anticipate the benchmark FBM KLCI index to trend within the 1,450-1,460 range,” he added.

Meanwhile, Thong was heartened to see the ringgit strengthening against the US dollar, rising to a four-month high of RM4.63.

At 9.06am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.07 to 1,456.45 from Friday’s close of 1,454.38.

The FBM KLCI opened 0.30 of-a-point easier at 1,454.08.

However, on the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 157 to 126, while 280 counters were unchanged, 1,742 untraded and 15 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 200.96 million units worth RM69.09 million.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and Tenaga Nasional added one sen each to RM8.90, RM4.26 and RM10, respectively, CIMB rose five sen to RM5.85, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.22.

Of the actives, Bina Puri eased one sen to 8.5 sen and Reneuco shed half-a-sen to 22 sen, while Minetech gained one sen to 14.5 sen, Iskandar Waterfront added three sen to 74 sen and Ekovest increased 1.5 sen to 49.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM ACE Index improved by 1.49 points to 5,217.69, the FBM Emas Index strengthened 8.48 points to 10,828.40 and the FBMT 100 Index inched up 7.53 to 10,492.46, while the FBM 70 Index shed 19.55 points to 14,597.29 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 0.04 of-a-point to 11,015.63.

Sector-wise, the Property Index perked 3.15 points to 862.62, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 0.25 of-a-point to 173.01, and the Financial Services Index climbed 37.30 points to 16,284.39, while the Plantation Index slipped 22.37 points to 7,014.08 and the Energy Index dropped 1.24 points to 817.36.