Malaysian share prices closed 4.4 percent higher on Monday in line with regional bourses after the US Federal Reserve cut the interest rate it uses to lend to banks, dealers said. They said the US move should help stabilise investor sentiment.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) closed up 51.84 points at 1,243.39 on volume of 1.445 billion shares valued at 2.439 billion ringgit (701 million dollars) while gainers outpaced losers 1,014 to 55.
At the close, the ringgit was quoted at 3.4885/4935 against the dollar. Ng Jun Sheng, senior investment analyst at SBB Securities, said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the market's near-term outlook.
The concerted move by central banks around the world to curb spillovers from the US subprime crisis, coupled with the Federal Reserve's efforts to normalise the market by cutting the discount rate by 50 basis points to 5.75 percent, should help stabilise investor sentiment, he said. Ng said all eyes will now be on the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting beginning Wednesday.
A rate hike by the BoJ will exacerbate the unwinding of yen-carry trades and weigh on regional stock markets but expectations are high that the central bank will maintain the status quo, he said. Heavyweight Telekom Malaysia gained 25 sen to 9.80 ringgit and state-run power company Tenaga was up 10 sen at 10.10 ringgit.
Among index-linked stocks, mobile phone company DiGi, Bursa Malaysia and gaming group Tanjong posted the sharpest gains, with DiGi up 90 sen at 20.30 ringgit, Bursa up 80 sen at 9.80 ringgit and Tanjong up 80 sen at 16.90 ringgit. Banks were mostly higher with the country's largest lender Maybank rising 60 sen to 11.50 ringgit, Bumiputra-Commerce, the second largest, advanced 30 sen to 10.20 ringgit and Public Bank, ranked third, gained 20 sen to 9.10 ringgit.
Comments
Comments are closed.