Malaysian share prices closed 0.79 percent higher on Friday in line with regional markets following a strong rally on Wall Street overnight, dealers said. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 7.02 points at 893.50 and volume was at 425.8 million shares valued at 763.2 million ringgit (209.56 million dollars).
Gainers outnumbered losers 605 to 147, while 355 counters were untraded and 210 stocks remained unchanged. The ringgit was traded at 3.6420 to the dollar and 4.6102 to the euro. The chief investment officer at TA Asset Management, Ang Kok Heng, attributed the local market's rebound to strong gains in regional markets.
Remarks by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke which suggested the US economy was holding up fairly well despite high oil prices had boosted investor sentiment across the region, he said. Ang said the news was welcome since Malaysia, like other regional economies, depended on exports to the US.
"Malaysia is on the same boat with other economies like Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Korea, so the markets tend to react in a similar manner," he said. Among blue chips, Tenaga was down 0.05 ringgit at 7.75, Maybank lost 0.10 ringgit at 10.40 and Telekom was down 0.05 ringgit at 9.00.