After a week of jitters, investors have settled into a sideways motion in the hours leading up the Budget's scheduled start at 4pm.
At 9.15am, the country's key index was up 0.77 point to 1,567.63 in cautious trading although sentiment remained on the upside as it tracked Wall Street's strong rebound in the recent session.
"Market focus today will be on the Budget 2022, which will determined the directions on economic growth moving forward away from the Covid-19 pandemic," said Malacca Securities Research in a note.
"We think policies that may be crafted will provide decent catalysts for traders to position within construction, property, tourism and renewable energy moving forward," it added.
Among the blue chips, Press Metal
bounced 11 sen higher to RM5.57 after its recent declines.Petronas Chemicals was also down give sen to RM8.65 while Petronas Gas dropped 16 sen to RM16.72.
Banks were slightly lower, led by Public Bank down two sen to RM4.18, Maybank sliding one sen to RM8.10, CIMB losing one sen to RM5.24 and Hong Leong Bank shedding four sen to RM18.86.
In telcos, Maxis rose seven sen to RM4.77, Axiata was up two sen to RM3.99 and Digi lost two sen to RM4.
On the broader market, some early gainers included MPI rising RM1.86 to RM47.26, Genetec climbing 78 sen to RM45.78 and Sam Engineeting gaining 16 sne to RM21.96.
Oil-and-gas-related counter Steel Hawk hit limit up after it jumped 30 sen to 50 sen while OM Holdings was up 12 sen to RM3.45.
Top actives were MMAG up two sen to 11.5 sen, Benalec
unchanged at 15.5 sen and Kanger flat at 4.5 sen.