KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 11): The FBM KLCI remained in positive territory albeit within a tight trading range as Asian markets edged down on refreshed concerns over conflicts in the Middle East.

At 10.03am, the FBM KLCI added 1.62 points to 1,872.47.

The top gainers included BAT, Nestle, United Plantations, KESM, Lysaght, Petronas Dagangan, Huat Lai, Scientex, Melewar, MMC Corp, Bintulu Port and Mycron.

The most actively traded counter included Reach Energy, Sumatec, Tiger Synergy, Sona Petroleum, Iris Corp, Daya Materials, Tek Seng and DGB Asia.

The decliners included Lafarge Malaysia, HLFG, Ibraco, ACME, PPB, SAM Engineering, Melati and Luxchem.

Regionally, Asian shares edged down on Thursday after U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to fight Islamic State militants, while the dollar pulled away from six-year highs against the yen, according to Reuters.

Obama told Americans in a speech late on Wednesday that he had authorised U.S. air strikes for the first time in Syria and more attacks in Iraq in a broad escalation of a campaign against the Islamic State militant group, it said.

JF Apex Research said the FBM KLCI lost 3.27 points to 1870.85 points on Wednesday.

“Asian equities are poised for a rebound today, taking cues from their Wall Street peers which recouped losses overnight.

“We expect the KLCI to be positive today but remain below the resistance of 1880 points,” it said.