KUALA LUMPUR(Jan 21): The FBM KLCI jumped 19.98 points or 1.14 % to finish at 1,770.09  points as crude oil prices stabilised ahead of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary decision.

Brent crude oil stabilised at the US$ 48.56 a barrel level, a day before the ECB's decision on potential quantitative easing (QE), which may see funds flowing back to Asian markets.

TA Securities Holdings Bhd technical analyst Steven Soo said the market’s strong performance today was mainly due to support from oil and gas (O&G) counters.

These include gains in Coastal Contracts Bhd, SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd and Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd.

“Also, the weakening of the ringgit (at time of writing trading at 3.6180 against the US dollar) would prove beneficial for exporters, for example, counters such as Supermax (which gained as much as 19sen, or 10%, before closing up 18 sen or 9.47% to RM2.08 today), “ Soo told theedgemarkets.com.

The ringgit also weakened to to 2.7071 against the Singapore dollar.

Bursa Malaysia saw 2.16 billion shares valued at RM2.44 billion traded. There were 559 gainers against 287 decliners while 280 counters remained unchanged.

Top gainers included PPB Group Bhd and British American Tobacco (M) Bhd. Meanwhile, decliners were led by Selangor Properties Bhd and Harbour-Link Group Bhd.

The most actively traded stock today was KNM Group Bhd with about 69 million shares changing hands.

Across the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.68% while Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.49%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.15%.

According to a Reuters report, Asian shares hit a six-week high and the euro stayed under pressure as investors counted on the ECB to unveil a stimulus drive.

The report added that the on the whole, global share prices had been supported in recent sessions by growing investor conviction that the ECB would adopt quantitative easing at its meeting.