KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 24): The FBM KLCI got off to a muted start this morning but stayed firmly above the crucial 1,800-point level.

At 9.05am, the FBM KLCI rose 1.55 points to 1,812.19.

The gainers included United Plantations Bhd, Pinehill Pacific Bhd, MISC Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, British American Tobacco (M) Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Visdynamics Holdings Bhd, SLP Resouces Bhd and Watta Holdings Bhd.

The safe haven yen gained on Monday in holiday-thinned trading as China cancelled upcoming tariff talks with the United States, ratcheting up tensions while oil prices jumped after top producers including Russia ruled out boosting crude output, according to Reuters.

Most of the action was in currencies as financial markets in Japan, China and South Korea were closed for a holiday, it said.

Hong Leong IB Research in a traders’ brief said in the US, the softer-than-expected trade tariffs that are imposed by the Trump administration could calm the market sentiment over the near term.

“However, traders could be mildly cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting that will be held on 25-26 Sep, whereby the Bloomberg consensus is having a 97.9% of having a rate hike. Hence, we anticipate that the Dow could be having limited upside near the psychological level of 27,000.

“On our local bourse, we may expect short term positive bias sentiment on the back of the decent foreign inflows last Friday, which stood at RM307.8 million.

“Also, traders could be looking out for opportunities within the O&G on the back of firmer crude oil prices and export-oriented stocks due to the USD/RM is still ranging between the RM4.10-4.15 level,” it said.