KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 ― Bursa Malaysia ended the morning session higher, lifted by gains in key heavyweights on bargain-hunting following yesterday's sell-off.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 2.84 points to 1,751.14 from yesterday's close of 1,748.3.

The benchmark index moved between 1,749.07 and 1,753.76 throughout the morning session, after opening 2.36 points higher at 1,750.66.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners by 505 to 309, with 359 counters unchanged, 556 untraded and 23 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 2.76 billion shares worth RM1.5 billion.            

In a note, Hong Leong Investment Bank Research said yesterday, Asian stocks, including that of Malaysia, were tracking the negative performance on the overnight Wall Street following renewed concerns over US President Donald Trump's policies.

However, it said sentiments on Bursa Malaysia turned positive as traders looked for opportunities within the fundamentally solid small-cap and oversold stocks.

Meanwhile, an attack close to Britain's Parliament, which killed five people, did not affect Asian equity markets, including that of Malaysia.

Among key heavyweights, Maybank added six sen to RM9, TNB was flat at RM13.72, Public Bank rose two sen to RM19.98 and Sime Darby gained 24 sen to RM9.50.

Of the actives, Efficient E-Solutions garnered 23 sen to 52 sen, Dataprep rose 4.5 sen to 66.5 sen and Green Packet was 6.5 sen better at 36 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 23.11 points higher at 12,395.24, the FBMT100 Index increased 21.42 points to 12,046.96 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index gained 26.21 points to 12,812.11.

The FBM 70 improved 32.77 points to 14,463.59 and the FBM Ace soared 165.41 points to 5,751.48.

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index inched up 20.63 points to 3,300.54, the Finance Index was 33.47 points better at 15,798.87, but the Plantation Index lost 34 points to 8,196.38. ― Bernama