KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia extended its gains in a broad-based rally as confidence grew that countermeasures to cushion the impact of the trade war would offset the negatives.
Regional markets were on the rise on Friday with Japan's Nikkei, Shanghai's Composite Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rising nearly 1% each. South Korea's Kospi was up 0.4%.
At 12.30pm, the FBM KLCI was up 7.08 points to 1,810.78. Trading volume was 928.97 million shares valued at RM809.89mil. Gainers exceeded decliners 376 to 310 with 350 counters unchanged.
Axiata led the advance with an eigh sen increase to RM4.71. Maxis edged one sen higher to RM5.85 while Digi added three sen to RM RM4.82.
Banks continued their rally with Maybank adding one sen to RM9.80, Public Bank rising two sen to RM25.04, CIMB gaining one sen to RM6.15 and Hong Leong Bank lifting four sen to RM20.84.
Genting Malaysia rose for a second straight session by 11 sen to RM5.
There were only two decliners on the 30-stock index, comprising Genting shedding three sen to RM7.95 and IOI losing one sen to RM4.58.
Lion Industries was actively traded and rose for a third consecutive session by 6.5 sen to 98.5 sen.
My EG also picked up three sen to RM1.79. The stock has chalked up a 160% increase in share price since it bottomed out at 68.5 sen on June 4.
In oil markets, prices were mixed following US President Donald Trump's call on Opec to lower prices. US crude fell nine cents to US$70.23 a barrel while Brent crude rose seven cents to US$78.77 a barrel.
In currencies, the ringgit strengthened 0.2% against the greenback at 4.1298. It slipped 0.4% against the pound sterling at 5.4807 and 0.16% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0279.
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