However, the Malaysian ringgit reversed Monday’s gains, dipping 0.8 per cent to 4.1778.

According to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review (NAR), the decline comes as foreign ownership in Malaysian Government bonds dropped in September for the first time in nearly a year.

Foreign holdings in Malaysian government bonds fell 0.4 per cent to RM213 billion last month after three months of strong inflows.

“However, these outflows were likely driven at least partially by redemptions,” Nomura wrote in an investors’ note.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 0.2 per cent to 1,668.72 points after gaining as much as 0.4 per cent during the day.

The NAR report said global oil prices gained over 2 per cent overnight after Russia, a key producer, voiced willingness to support the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ bid to cut output.

OPEC and Russia collectively produce about half of the world’s oil.

“Russia’s change in stance boosted the outlook for several markets, primarily oil and indirectly for equities,” NAR quoted Jingyi Pan, a market analyst at IG as saying. He added: “As usual, we would expect the contagion effect to reach Asia.”

On the KLCI, 17 out of the 30 constituents rose, while eight declined. Overall, advancers outnumbered decliners 440 to 324.

SapuraKencana Petroleum gained 3.1 per cent to RM1.68. Sime Darby gained 0.8 per cent to RM7.83, after the company announced that it would push ahead with its plan to develop a real estate investment trust, according to the NAR report.

IOI Corp was up 1.1 per cent at RM4.50.

Maxis and Axiata Group were the biggest index losers, falling 1.0 per cent and 0.9 per cent to RM6.08 and RM5.31, respectively.