Malaysian shares ended in the green on Friday, extending yesterday's gains. Investor sentiment was further boosted by faster GDP growth in the second quarter, as well as slower inflation in June
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, the main gauge of Malaysian stocks, gained 9.26 points to end 0.5% higher at 1,731.45.
In economic news, Malaysia's economy expanded 5.8% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, according to advance estimates released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. The headline reading compared with the 5.4% year-over-year growth recorded in the preceding quarter, coming in above the 5.3% Trading Economics forecast.
Moreover, Malaysia's headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.9% year over year in June, according to data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia. The reading missed the consensus forecast of 2% tracked by Investing.com. It was also softer than a 2% expansion recorded in the previous month.
In corporate news, GuocoLand (Malaysia) (KLSE:GUOCO) will suspend trading on July 30, ahead of the implementation of its privatization, via a selective capital reduction and repayment exercise. The privatization date has been fixed for July 31, with entitled shareholders to receive 1.10 ringgit in cash for each GLM share held on that date.
Shares of Kerjaya Prospek Group (KLSE:KERJAYA) gained a little over 1% on Friday's close after its unit Acumen Marketing subscribed for 70 million new shares, or a 9.09% stake in ES Sunlogy, for 18.8 million ringgit.