KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 22): Malaysian stocks closed higher today, snapping two days of declines, led by a rebound in energy prices and the central bank's move to add more liquidity into the banking system.

Yesterday, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) unexpectedly cut the statutory reserve requirement (SRR) ratio to 3.5% effective Feb 1 to add more liquidity in the financial system. But it kept the key interest rate steady at 3.25%.

The benchmark FBM KLCI rose 24.29 points or 1.52% to close at 1,625.21, in line with most Asian stock markets. Across the board, a total of 1.93 billion shares worth RM1.795 billion were traded. Market breadth was positive with 712 gainers compared with 217 losers.

SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (up 9 sen to RM1.62), Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd (HLFG) (up 50 sen to RM13.22) and Genting Bhd (up 24 sen to RM7.26) led the gainers in the KLCI.

The leading movers include British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd (up RM1 to RM55.50), HLFG and PPB Group Bhd, which rose 48 sen to close at RM16.10. The top losers were Negri Sembilan Oil Palms Bhd (down 15 sen to RM4.05) and Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd (down 10 sen to RM73.32).

KAF Investment Funds Bhd fund manager Tan Gan Leong said the stock market was back in the positive territory mainly due to the rebound of oil price and also to the appreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar.

"The market reacted positively on the development of oil prices and ringgit," he told theedgemarkets.com via phone.

He opined that BNM's move to cut the (SSR) ratio would have minimal impact on the local bourse moving forward as it merely improves the liquidity of the banks.

The ringgit strengthened to 4.2968 against the US dollar, while Brent crude was traded at US$30.60 per barrel at the time of writing.

Across regional markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 5.88%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 2.9%, while South Korea's Kospi was up 2.11%. In Bangkok, the SET index closed up 1.61%, while Singapore's STI climbed 1.75%.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)