KUALA LUMPUR (March 15): Malaysia's stock market capitalisation expanded 14.4% to RM1.91 trillion in 2017 against RM1.67 trillion in 2016, according to the Securities Commission (SC) Annual Report 2017.

In 2017, the Malaysian equity market saw the strongest foreign demand relative to other markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region. In Malaysia, foreigners were net buyers as the market registered cumulative net inflow of US$2.4 billion or RM10.8 billion as at end 2017.

The report said Malaysian stocks performed positively across the board. Overall, the FBM KLCI, FBM ACE, and FBM Small Cap indices rose 9.5%, 38.1% and 15.9% respectively.

“Blue chip, small-cap, and ACE market stocks recorded strong gains in the first half of the year before seeing consolidation in the second half of the year,” the SC said.

The SC said the FBM KLCI ended the year on a bullish note at 1,796.81 points, rising 4.6% in December alone.

Small-cap and ACE market stocks were the year’s biggest gainers with the corresponding indices growing respectively following strong demand from the start of the year.

The top-performing sectors in the small cap and ACE market were the IT and consumer staples sectors.

“Stocks in the IT sector were seen tracking higher demand for semiconductors globally while stocks in the consumer staples sector benefited from strong household consumption in 2017,” the SC said.