KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia was given a boost on Thursday after the RM322.5bil federal budget, the nation's largest ever, was passed despite a call by the Opposition for bloc voting.
The policy stage of Budget 2021 was passed with a voice vote at 3.24pm in Parliament on Thursday and this saw investors’ risk appetite for equities perk up.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 14.53 points or 0.91% to 1,612.11, a strong recovery from the early low of 1,592. Turnover was 8.86 billion shares valued at RM4.67bil. Advancers beat decliners nearly two to one or 816 gainers to 412 losers and 428 counters unchanged.
Investor sentiment was also shored up by firmer key Asian markets. China's main stock indexes ended higher, rebounding from two days of losses as gains in financial and consumer shares offset drops in health care, tech and new energy vehicle firms.
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