KUALA LUMPUR (June 7): The FBM KLCI rose 8.68 points or 0.5% as Asian shares took cue from US equities' overnight rise. At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,785.81 points after climbing to its intraday high at 1,801.42 points.

At 5pm today, the KLCI extended its gain after rising 21.99 points yesterday. Today, the KLCI closed higher partly on gains in KLCI-linked banking stocks like Malayan Banking Bhd, (Maybank) CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and RHB Bank Bhd.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong told theedgemarkets.com over telephone "the gain in the Malaysian stock market is in line with the overnight gain at Wall Street".

Across Bursa Malaysia today, 4.06 billion shares worth RM3.25 billion were traded. Top gainers included Maybank, the shares of which, rose 28 sen to RM9.87. Notable gainers included KLCI-linked stocks Petronas Dagangan Bhd and Telekom Malaysia Bhd.
 
Major Asian stock markets rose. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was 0.87% higher while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.81%. Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.4%, the S&P 500 rose 0.86% while the Nasdaq was 0.67% higher.

Reuters reported that Wall Street indexes rallied on Wednesday with help from financial stocks as investors eyed strong economic data and trade war fears took a back seat while the Nasdaq registered its third straight record closing high.