Malaysian stocks likely to gain today

MALAYSIAN shares are likely to gain today after Wall Street posted its best four-week winning streak since 1933 on optimism that the worst may be over for the economy.

That factor, and hope that new Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will carry out reforms as he has promised may sustain the positive trend on the Malaysian bourse since Thursday, when former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi handed in his resignation.

“There is a lot of hope that Najib will do better than Badawi in terms of carrying out the reforms that he has promised or will promise in the days to come,” said an institutional dealer at a bank-backed brokerage.

“I believe stocks with perceived links to the government or to Najib will continue to attract speculative interest. So, traders looking for some short-term play could look at some of these stocks,” he said. - Reuters