KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed almost flat on Tuesday as buying interest rotated away from index heavyweights towards smaller-cap construction stocks, with sentiment affected by geopolitical uncertainty, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.39 of a point to 1,714.40 from Monday’s close of 1,714.79. The benchmark index opened 1.65 points lower at 1,713.14 and moved between 1,710.44 and 1,714.50 throughout the trading session. The broader market was almost evenly balanced, with decliners leading gainers 548 to 546, while 598 counters were unchanged, 1,107 were untraded and 25 were suspended. Turnover expanded to 4.13 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion from 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion on Monday.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Nasdaq Inc's application to list options on the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF , marking a significant step toward the trading of derivatives tied to the product. The ETF, trading under the ticker IBIT , is the largest fund investing directly in Bitcoin , with US$22.7 billion in assets. Before trading can begin, the contracts still require approval from the Options Clearing Corp and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) . Other exchanges have also applied to list options on the iShares fund and other spot-Bitcoin ETFs . “Getting the SEC to come around is a big step toward listing options, which can attract larger investors and bring more liquidity to the ETFs,” said Eric Balchunas , an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. The approval follows a long legal battle led by Grayscale Investments , another major player in the crypto fund space, leading to broader acceptance of Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year.