KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29): A further strengthening of the ringgit and crude oil pushed Malaysian stocks higher today, with the FBM KLCI closing with gains for a fifth consecutive session.

The benchmark index ended the day up 33.27 points, or 2.04%, at 1,667.80. Trading volume increased to 2.5 billion shares worth RM4.03 billion compared with yesterday's 1.82 billion shares worth RM2.46 billion.

Gainers outweighed losers today, with 689 gainers against 285 losers, while 260 counters were unchanged.

At press time, the ringgit appreciated by 1.3% to 4.1518 against the US dollar, and gained 1.04% to trade at 2.9165 against the Singapore dollar.

Brent crude, meanwhile, was up 1.7% at US$34.47 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was 1.7% higher at US$33.78 per barrel.

Jupiter Securities chief market strategist Benny Lee said the performance of the local stock market was broad-based, with sectors such as plantation and oil and gas (O&G) recording gains.

"The market's rebound today was pretty much due to a stronger showing in the ringgit, and sectors that gained the most today were the finance, plantation and O&G counters," he told theedgmarkets.com.

The day's top gainers included Genting Plantations Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd.

The losers were Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd, Maxis Bhd and Hartalega Holdings Bhd.

The most actively traded counter was Tiger Synergy Bhd, with 76.66 million shares traded.

The performance of most regional peers was also positive today, following the Bank of Japan (BOJ)'s unexpected easing of its monetary policy further by introducing a negative interest rate policy, and as global crude oil prices gained.

In a 5–4 vote, the Japanese central bank decided to charge 0.1% interest on current accounts that financial institutions hold at the BOJ, and said it would cut interest rates further into negative territory if judged necessary, Reuters reported.

Regionally, the Jakarta Composite Index ended up 0.27%, Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 2.6%, Stock Exchange of Thailand was up 0.4%, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh stock index was up 1.07% and the Philippines Stock Exchange was up 1.89%.

On the broader Asia front, Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.71%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.75%, while South Korea's KOSPI was up 0.48%.

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