KUALA LUMPUR (March 18): Malaysian stocks got off to a positive start on Wednesday and rose 1.31%, tracking the overnight gains at Wall Street, as index-linked glove makers and petronas-linked stocks advanced against the backdrop of a globally crippling COVID-19 pandemic.

At 9.0.5am, the FBM KLCI rose 16.77 points to 1,273.35.

The top gainers included glovemakers Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Top Glove Corp Bhd, as well as Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Bhd.

Bloomberg said stocks in Asia looked set to build on a rally after a surge in U.S. equities, with investors monitoring increased efforts from the Trump administration to offset the economic impact from the coronavirus. Treasuries slumped.

Futures were higher in Japan and Hong Kong after the S&P 500 gained 6%. Treasuries continued to drop, pushing the 10-year yield back up above 1%. At one point rates on 10- and 30-year bonds shot up more than 36 basis points, their biggest one-day increases since 1982. Huge gyrations across assets are continuing to keep expectations high for further swings as countries respond to increasing lockdowns on movements of people and business operations, it said.

JF Apex Securities Research said US markets surged over 5% as the Trump administration is mulling a US$1 trillion fiscal stimulus package.

It said that earlier, European stocks advanced on hopes of fiscal stimulus from governments around the world.

“On the local market, the FBM KLCI was 24.05 points lower at 1256.58 points after recovering from an intraday low of 1211.95 points.

“Following the positive performances in the US and Europe, the FBM KLCI could rebound towards the resistance of 1280 points,” it said.