KUALA LUMPUR: Equities on Bursa Malaysia were slightly improved in early Wednesday trade after four successive days of losses as investors kept prices on a sideways trend.

       At 9.25am, the FBM KLCI was up 2.17 points to 1,586.37. The market breadth was nearly even with 246 decliners compared to 238 gainers.

       The ongoing consolidation and lacklustre trade is indication that investors were awaiting fresh leads in the run-up to Budget 2022 on Friday.

       Malacca Securities Research said in a note that the market focus will be on potential beneficiaries of Budget 2022 in the days ahead.

       "We believe the buying interest has been noticed in the building material segment, which could continue as it is the proxy to the construction sector," it said.

       Apart from the building materials, the research house expects construction and telecommunication stocks to trend higher while investors may also trade in plantation and oil counters given the elevated commodities prices.

       On the FBM KLCI, banks bounced higher with Maybank rising five sen to RM8.17, PUblic Bank gaining three sen to RM4.26 and CIMB adding four sen.Hong Leong Bank was the outlier, losing eight sne to RM18.78.

       Petronas-related counters were on the climb. Petronas Chemicals moved three sen higher to RM8.81 while Petronas Gas rose 10 sen to RM7.11 and Petronas Dagangan gained 30 sen to RM20.34.

       MISC was also on the move, rising seven sen to RM7.08.

       In plantations, Sime Darby Plantation shaved five sen and IOI sayed flat at RM4.05.

       Press Metal lost four sen to RM5.72.

       On the broader market, top actives were VC down 1.5 sen to 8.5 sen, KNM dropping one sen to 20.5 sen and SCIB slumping nine sen to 31.5 sen after it said it will miss the month-end deadline to submit its annual statement.