KUALA LUMPUR (July 8): The FBM KLCI opened marginally higher this morning but seen consolidating as investors are still likely away on extened Hari Raya festive holidays.

At 9.01am, the FBM KLCI was up 4.30 points to 1,655.01.

The gainers included Aeon  Credit Services (M) Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery (M) Holdings Bhd, LPI Capital Bhd, JHM Consolidation Bhd, Kawan Food Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, Versatile Creative Bhd and Unisem (M) Bhd.

Asian shares were steady in early Friday trade as investors brace for U.S. jobs data to see if the world's no. 1 economy is resilient enough to weather the fallout from the Brexit vote, according to Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were down 0.1 percent while Japan's Nikkei was up 0.5 percent, it said.

JF Apex Securities Research in a market preview today said US markets ended mixed overnight as oil prices declined as supply dropped lower than expected.

It said that earlier, European markets rose despite falling oil prices.

“On the local market, the FBM KLCI lost 4.13 points to 1650.71 points (on Tuesday).

“Following the mixed performance in global markets, the FBM KLCI is expected to remain sideways below the resistance of 1665 points in view of low trading during this festive season,” it said.