KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia rebounded to end higher today with the benchmark FBM KLCI reclaiming the 1,700 psychological level, supported by improved global sentiment after US President Donald Trump signalled a potential de-escalation of the Iran conflict, alongside Malaysia’s stronger Industrial Production Index (IPI) data. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased 27.51 points, or 1.64 per cent, to 1,701.68 from yesterday’s close of 1,674.17. The benchmark index opened 10.68 points higher at 1,684.85, its lowest point today, and hit a high of 1,703.61 in the late afternoon session. Market breadth was positive, with gainers thumping losers 929 to 382. A total of 361 counters were unchanged, 982 untraded and 19 suspended. Turnover declined to 3.60 billion units worth RM3.75 billion from yesterday’s 5.52 billion units worth RM5.87 billion.
The global economy crisis has led the central banks all over the world to reduce the interest rates to close to 0% which is the all time low. With interest rates that low, borrowing has been cheap which can indirectly spurs the economy - low interest rates, company can borrow to for company expansion, people can borrow more to buy properties and people are forced to spend their money or savings. In fact, the global stock market has been rallying non-stop since March 2009 because of low interest rates and this lead to the presumption that global economy has recovered, although the jobless in the United States stays at 10%. Some has the feeling that the stock market and commodities rally was led by low interest rate because people starting to treat stock market as just another legalized casino. Nevertheless, I do believe we are on the way of recovery but this road is expected to have a lot of potholes. With recovery on the way, central banks will be slowly starting to raise the interest...