Malaysia's stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia, has reinstated the use of short selling to attract more overseas money, particularly from hedge funds. The practice, which was banned in 1998 in response to that year’s Asian financial crisis, will be limited to 70 selected stocks to prevent speculative sell-offs in the wider market. Malaysian equities rallied in the fourth quarter of 2006, with the benchmark index rising 20 per cent over the year.