KUALA LUMPUR: Stronger crude oil prices, a dovish outlook by the US Federal Reserve saw Asian markets and Bursa Malaysia kicking off the new week on Monday on a strong note.
At 9.22am, the FBM KLCI was up 17.35 points or 1.04% to 1,687.13. Turnover was 418.90 million shares valued at RM167.68mil. There were 377 gainers, 76 losers and 179 counters unchanged.
Reuters reported a dovish turn by the Federal Reserve and startlingly strong US jobs data soothed some of the market's worst fears about the global outlook.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7% in early trade, led by a 1.5% jump in Australia.
Japan's Nikkei shot up 3.1%, helped in part by a pullback in the yen, while South Korea added 1.5%. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 climbed another 0.5%.
International Brent crude futures rose 69 cents to US$57.75 per barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures gained 64 cents to US$48.60.
At Bursa, Petronas Dagangan rose 36 sen to RM26.26, Petron 21 sen to RM6.61 and Hengyuan 20 sen to RM5.05.
BAT was the top gainer, up 64 sen to RM36.64, Hong Leong Bank added 27 sen to RM20.78 while Tenaga and PPB Group advanced 20 sen each to RM13.66 and RM17.38.
KESM rose 26 sen to RM7.71, MPI 25 sen to RM9.90 and SAM Engineering 23 sen to RM7.63.
DPIH was the most active, up three sen to 28 sen while KNM inched up 0.5 sen to eight sen, Hibiscus 4.5 sen to 94 sen.
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