KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia saw third consecutive day of gains as it was lifted by a rally in global stocks following a change in sentiment over the current state of the world's economy.
Chinese shares rallied on Friday with the Shanghai Composite Index rising 2.5% to 2,797.48 and the CSI 300 gaining 3% to 3,410.49.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng followed suit with a 1.7% rise to 27,953.58.
Japan's Nikkei, meanwhile, closed up 0.8% to 23,869.93 while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.68% to 2,339.17.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 6.94 points to 1,810.64. Tading volume was RM2.07bil worth RM3.61bil. Gainers outpaced decliners 477 to 389 and 365 counters were unchanged.
On the 30-stock index, there were 25 gainers and only three decliners and two counters unchanged.
Genting Malaysia rose for a second straight day to top the index contribution, rising 15 sen to RM5.04.
IHH, meanwhile, added eight sen to RM5.24 while CIMB lifted six sen to RM6.20.
Press Metal
climbed 14 sen to RM5.03, a third consecutive day of gains, as global sentiment over commodities trade turned bullish.
On the declining end, IOI shaved 11 sen to RM4.48, TNB lost eight sen to RM15.68 and KLCC trimmed seven sen to RM7.72.
Top active counters for the day included My EG, which rose three sen to RM1.79, Lion Industries jumping 10 sen to RM1.02 and Dialog edging one sen higher to RM3.56.
Oil prices rose ahead of an Opec meeting in Algeria on Sunday, despite US President Donald Trump's calls for them to be lowered.
Investors are factoring in the impact of US sanctions on major oil producer Iran, which are expected to disrupt supply.
WTI crude rose 46 cents to US$70.78 a barrel while Brent crude gained 71 cents to US$79.41 a barrel.
The ringgit was seen to firm up 0.25% against the US dollar to 4.1280. It fell 0.2% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0287 and was unchanged against the pound sterling at 5.4562.
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