KUALA LUMPUR (April 16): The FBM KLCI eked out marginal gains at mid-morning amid some choppy trading this morning.

At 10am, the FBM KLCI was up 0.83 points to 1,869.30.

Losers led gainers by 298 to 241, while 245 counters traded unchanged. Volume was 766.03 million shares valued at RM341.98 million.

The gainers included Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, DiGi.Com Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Icapital.Biz Bhd and Scientex Bhd.

The actives included Sapura Energy Bhd, SKH Consortium Bhd, UMW Oil & Gas Corp Bhd, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd, Dagang NeXchange Bhd, EA Holdings Bhd and PUHC Bhd.

The losers included Malaysian Pacific Interest Bhd, Malaysian Airports Holdings Bhd, KESM Industries Bhd, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd, Maxis Bhd and Kuchai Development Bhd.

Share markets started firmer in Asia on Monday amid relief U.S.-led strikes on Syria looked like being a one-off event that avoided a direct confrontation with Russia, weighing on oil prices and safe-haven Treasuries, according to Reuters.

EMini futures for the S&P 500 sprang 0.6 percent higher in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei added 0.3 percent, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said in the US, it believed investors will stay cautious after the air strike in Syria last week, and further developments on the geopolitical tensions will be monitored after an already eventful week.

“Nevertheless, traders may look out for opportunities with the ongoing reporting season, which may reflect the first quarterly earnings after the corporate tax cuts by Donald Trump late last year.

“Similarly, we think the market sentiment on the local front may stay downward bias on the back of the Syria air strike episode.

“Nevertheless, should there be a firmer crude oil prices out of this Incident, traders may grab the opportunity to trade the O&G stocks,” it said.