KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s key index finished marginally higher, supported by strong buying interest in consumer-related counters, amid mixed performance across regional markets. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 1.40 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 1,711.39 from Tuesday's close of 1,709.99. The key index opened 12.36 points firmer at 1,722.35 and moved between 1,711.31 and 1,722.63 throughout the session. Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers 678 to 493, while 549 counters were unchanged, 1,016 untraded and 34 suspended. Turnover increased to 4.50 billion units worth RM3.45 billion from 3.93 billion units worth RM3.45 billion on Tuesday.
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...