KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): Malaysian shares staged a pre-budget rebound, led by banking besides oil and gas-related stocks. Fund managers said investors regained confidence following the recovery of commodity prices.

At 5pm, the KLCI rose 18.79 points or 1.15% to close at 1,647.59, lifted by stocks like Public Bank Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd. These stocks ended among Bursa Malaysia top gainers.

Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong described the KLCI's rise as a budget rally. Wong said the financial sector, as the key component of the KLCI, would see more interest from investors and would continue to lead the market rebound.

Danny Wong told theedgemarkets.com the KLCI had gained on "revived interest on banking stocks amid interest towards the banking sector".

"This is pre-budget bounce back. We hope there will be more good news on commodity, crude palm oil besides oil and gas prices. Normally, during winter at year-end, oil and gas prices will rebound, and Malaysia will be a beneficiary on this," Wong said.

Malaysia will announce its 2016 Budget this Oct 23.

Today, crude oil prices rose. Reuters reported that crude oil prices rose on Monday after Russia said it was prepared to meet other producers to discuss the situation in the global oil market.

Brent crude oil rose 1.18% to trade at US$48.70 per barrel, while US oil increased 1.14% to US$46 as at 4.19pm.

In Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia saw 1.91 billion shares worth RM1.86 billion traded. There were 601 gainers and 236 decliners.

The top decliner is Nestle (M) Bhd, while the top-active entity is Public Bank call warrant PBBank-C5.

At regional markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.62%, Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 1.58%, while South Korea's Kospi increased 0.44%.

Asian stocks rose on Monday as expectations for a US interest rate hike this year faded after weaker-than-expected employment data, according to Reuters.

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