KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 22): The FBM KLCI climbed 28.06 points or 1.64% as investors bought beaten blue-chip stocks amid a crude oil price recovery.

At the 5pm closing bell, the KLCI closed at 1,744.05 points. The KLCI extended gains after rising 16.04 points last Friday.

Today, the KLCI was lifted by stabilising oil prices and rose in tandem with Asian counterparts, according to UOB KayHian head of research Vincent Khoo.

“Technically, the index is rebounding from the recent quick selldown on the back of the low crude oil prices,” Khoo told theedgemarkets.com.

Khoo said things “appear to be at a better state” before Christmas this Thursday. But he is still mindful of the impact of oil price volatility.

"There is still some uncertain element on the oil prices, given that some analysts predicted oil prices to fall below US$60 a barrel,” he cautioned.

Brent crude oil was traded at US$61.30 a barrel at the time of writing. This compared with US$59.27 on Dec 18 this year.

Today, Bursa Malaysia saw 1.58 billion shares worth RM1.64 billion traded. Gainers led losers at 695 over 203 while 221 counters remained unchanged.

Icon Offshore Bhd was the most actively traded stock across the bourse today. The counter closed 19 sen lower at 78.5 sen today with some 68.76 million shares traded.

Top gainers included Petronas Gas Bhd and consumer counters Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd and Nestle (M) Bhd.

Top decliners included Icon and Hong Leong Bank Bhd.

Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.08% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index finished 1.26% higher.

Asian shares took their cues from Wall Street and kicked off a holiday-shortened week on a strong footing on Monday as oil prices recovered, while the euro touched a fresh two-year low against the greenback on divergent monetary policy expectations, Reuters reported.

It noted that on Wall Street on Friday, U.S. shares rose, with the S&P 500 coming within a few points of its closing record high.