KUALA LUMPUR (July 19): The FBM KLCI gained 6.17 points or 0.35% after foreign investors became net buyers of Malaysian shares and as Bursa Malaysia construction stocks rose.

Bursa Malaysia construction stocks rose after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today Malaysia will defer the planned Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) instead of unilaterally cancelling the project.
 
At 5pm, the KLCI closed at 1,759.24 points. Bursa Malaysia's construction index gained 10.14 points or 4.87% to 218.43 points.

“If you look at the trade today, the construction sector has been doing very well. News reports talked about the likelihood of a return of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR project,” Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of research Vincent Lau told theegemarkets.com over telephone.

The selldown of Malaysian shares by foreign investors has toned down recently. Lau said today foreign investors turned into net buyers of Malaysian shares for the first time in July 2018 yesterday.

Today, Malaysia's construction sector and foreign investor sentiment led to a notable rise in share-trade volume and value across Bursa Malaysia. A total of 3.49 billion shares worth RM3.03 billion were traded. Yesterday, the bourse saw 2.63 billion shares transacted for RM2.18 billion.

Today, Bursa Malaysia top gainers included Malayan Banking Bhd and Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWCity). IWCity rose 17.5 sen to 74.5 sen with about 134 million shares traded to close among Bursa Malaysia's most-active counters.