KUALA LUMPUR (March 9): Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session higher on Wednesday (March 9), boosted by buying support among the lower liners and the broader market, a dealer said.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) firmed 3.48 points to 1,550.35 from 1,546.87 at Tuesday's close.

The index opened 3.45 points better at 1,550.32, and moved between 1,543.91 and 1,554.24 during the morning session.

Market breadth remained positive with gainers outnumbering losers 592 to 293, while 358 counters were unchanged, 1,030 untraded and 11 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.75 billion units worth RM1.31 billion.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities were trading in positive territory on Wednesday, despite a weak lead from Wall Street.

“Trades will be keeping an eye on liquidity and potential short squeezes in the commodity and metal sector as prices soar.

"Traders are also eyeing oil as oil benchmarks have continued to trade higher since the United States and the United Kingdom are moving forward with plans to ban Russian oil and gas imports,” he told Bernama, adding that the European Union had also announced plans to significantly reduce its dependence on Russian energy.

With the ongoing geopolitical tensions, he said markets were wary of further inflation pressures and slowing growth while waiting for China's consumer price index data due later on Wednesday.

“Traders are expecting a higher reading for the data as high costs of raw materials and energy, along with increased labour expenses, are likely to put pressure on suppliers in the services sector, with a share of the higher costs expected to be passed down to customers,” he noted. 

Meanwhile, among the Bursa heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd eased one sen to RM8.79, IHH Healthcare Bhd slipped three sen to RM6.35, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd narrowed 10 sen to RM6.69, Public Bank Bhd gained seven sen to RM4.37 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd expanded 32 sen to RM10.02.

Among the actives, SMTrack Bhd slid one sen to 9.5 sen and VinVest Capital Holdings Bhd eased half-a-sen to 24 sen, while Dagang NeXchange Bhd gained 4.5 sen to 98 sen, Dataprep Holdings Bhd firmed seven sen to 33.5 sen and Sapura Energy Bhd stayed at 3.5 sen,

On the index board, the FBM ACE perked 102.73 points to 5,127.67, FBM 70 jumped 264.57 points to 12,729.87, FBM Emas Index inched up 73.62 points to 10,951.94, FBMT 100 Index widened 65.81 points to 10,659.61, and FBM Emas Shariah Index accumulated 60.39 points to 11,615.15.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index expanded 135.24 points to 15,905.61 and the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 2.7 points to 205.89, while, the Plantation Index eased 82.19 points to 8,167.98.