KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended the early session slightly higher, even as regional markets hovered near record highs amid rising oil prices.
Investor sentiment remains capped by the rising cost of oil, with Brent crude last sitting at about US$109 a barrel and no end in sight to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Traders are pricing in the impact of a protracted high inflation environment, as there has been no concrete progress in negotiations between the US and Iran.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KCI was up 3.01 points to 1,720.28, driven higher by banks and utilities.
The market breadth, however, was negative at 648 declining issues to 455 advancing. Trading volume was 2.1 billion shares valued at RM1.45bil.
Heavyweight banks pulled up the blue-chip index. Maybank rose eight sen to RM11.18, CIMB gained five sen to RM7.70, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.73 and RHB was up one sen to RM4.73.
Other leading gainers included Telekom Malaysia, rising nine sen to RM7.67, and Gamuda adding eight sen to RM4.38.
Of actives, UEM Sunrise
rose six sen to 65.5 sen, Zetrix AI dropped one sen to 86 sen and MRCB gained 1.5 sen to 33 sen.
In regional markets, the Nikkei fell 1% to 59,946. South Korea's Kospi gained 1.05% to 6,684.
China's Shanghai Composite index was flat at 4.083 while the CSI 300 was unchanged at 4,773. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.67% to 25,752.
