KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 27): The FBM KLCI closed 18.12 points or 1.08% higher today, tracking the dramatic overnight rebound in US stocks at Wall Street on Wednesday after a report of robust holiday sales shored up investor confidence over the health of the US economy.

Reuters reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged at least 1,000 points in a single session for the first time on Wednesday in a broad stock rebound after the benchmark S&P 500 index was on the brink of a bear market. It was reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,086.25 points, or 4.98 percent, to close at 22,878.45, the S&P 500 gained 116.6 points, or 4.96 percent, to 2,467.7 and the Nasdaq Composite added 361.44 points, or 5.84 percent, to 6,554.36.

Back home today, the KLCI finished at 1,690.72 at 5pm after trading between 1,677.33 and 1,691.65. The KLCI closed higher, led by Sime Darby Bhd and Sime Darby Plantation Bhd share gains.

Sime Darby Bhd shares closed up 10 sen or 4.27% at RM2.44 to become the largest gainer in percentage terms among the 30 KLCI stocks. Sime Darby Plantation gained 17 sen or 3.69% to RM4.78.

UOB Kay Hian head of research Vincent Khoo told theedgemarkets.com that Malaysia's share market performance today can be viewed as a relief rally and that local equities could continue to trend higher through early January 2019.

“[However], beyond this relief period, the underlying economic and capital market fundamentals will likely remain challenging,” Khoo cautioned.

Malaysian stocks rose with Asian shares today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 3.88% higher while South Korea's Kospi was up 0.021%.

Elsewhere, China shares ended lower after erasing intraday gains. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished 0.61% and 0.67% lower respectively.

Reuters reported that Asian shares on Thursday rode the dramatic surge on Wall Street as markets, hammered by a recent drum roll of deepening political and economic gloom, cheered upbeat US data and the Trump administration's effort to shore up investor confidence. It was reported that there was no single trigger for the overnight relief rally on Wall Street, though a Mastercard Inc report that sales during the US holiday shopping season rose the most in six years in 2018 helped allay concerns about the health of the US economy.