KUALA LUMPUR: Stocks on Bursa Malaysia soared as the appetite for equities grew amid expectations of the US central bank lowering lending rates as soon as next month.
Investors have turned bullish on the market following the 90-day extension of the tariffs truce deadline between the US and China. Coupled with a tame US inflation report, US stocks were given another short in the arm with the S&P500 and Nasdaq hitting fresh records levels.
On Bursa Malaysia, the FBM KLCI surged 17.24 points or 1.1% to 1,585.14, extending its rally for a seventh day as stocks broke out of their holding patterns to trade at three-month highs.
The rally registered in 12 of the 13 market sectors, with
REITs being the only laggards as investors cashed out of the defensive sector in favour of bigger risks.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 637 to 308 for a ratio of more than 2-to-1.
Volume was 1.64 billion shares changing hands for RM1.52bil.
Malaysian banks pushed up the index with Maybank rising 12 sen to RM9.83 and CIMB jumping 17 sen to RM7.18.
Public Bank rose four sen to RM4.44, RHB gained five sen to RM6.42, AmBank climbed 16 sen to RM5.43 and Hong Leong Bank added 12 sen to RM19.72.
In other stocks, Tenaga Nasional put on 22 sen to RM13.80 and IHH rose seven sen to RM6.89.
