Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 7): The FBM KLCI closed up 9.39 points or 0.56%, tracking Asian peers, as investors took cue from the US' strong employment data and Federal Reserve's dovish turn.

China's move to cut bank reserve requirements also supported world stock markets as investors looked ahead at US-China trade talks today. At Bursa Malaysia, the KLCI closed at 1,679.17 at 5pm.

“I think the (Malaysian share) market also (saw an) oversold situation last week,” Danny Wong, chief executive officer of Areca Capital Sdn Bhd told theedgemarkets.com. “We might see some bargain hunting,” Wong said.

Wong said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's dovish comments were also behind the more positive share-trade sentiment today. However, Wong expects volatile trading to continue until investors are more certain of earnings and growth expectations.

Asian shares closed higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.44% while South Korea's Kospi climbed 1.34%. In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.82% while the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite was 0.72% higher.

Reuters reported today the combination of a strong jobs report and a dovish Fed helped the Dow end Friday with gains of 3.29 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped 3.43 percent and the Nasdaq 4.26 percent. It was reported that risk appetite got a huge boost on Friday when the US payrolls report showed 312,000 net new jobs were created in December, while wages rose at a brisk annual pace of 3.2 percent.

It was reported that despite the strength, Powell sought to ease market concerns about the risk of a slowdown, saying the Central Bank would be patient and flexible in policy decisions this year.

In Asia today, it was reported that Chinese stocks firmed after the country's Central Bank announced an easing in policy on Friday, with 100 basis points of cuts to bank reserve requirements freeing up around US$116 billion for new lending. It was reported that Chinese officials also meet their US counterparts for trade negotiations starting later Monday, the first face-to-face talks of the year.

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