KUALA LUMPUR (April 4): The FBM KLCI endured a choppy trading session before closing marginally higher on Thursday amid the lack of fresh catalysts.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI closed 1.86 points, or 0.11% higher at 1,645.07. The benchmark index opened slightly higher at 1,644.01 this morning.

It traded within a range of 8.04 points between an intra-day high of 1,645.61 and a low of 1,637.57 today.

Across Bursa Malaysia, 3.18 billion shares worth RM2.13 billion were transacted. Gainers outnumbered losers by 398 to 355, while 493 counters were unchanged.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said the benchmark ended marginally higher after a choppy trading session as some key heavyweight index-linked stocks swung between gains and losses.

“Given this, we expect the index to trade between 1,650 (resistant level) and 1,630 (support level) in the immediate term on the back of no fresh catalyst in the market,” Leong added.

Reuters reported that Asian shares retreated from eight-month highs on Thursday as investors cashed out amid fresh concerns about the ongoing Sino-US trade talks and their impact on the prospects for world growth.

Across the region, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.05% to 21,724.95 points and South Korea's Kospi was up 0.15% to 2,206.53 points.

In China,  the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index climbed 0.94% to 3,246.57 points while  Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.17% to 29,936.32 points.