KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher today, surpassing the 1,460-level, as investors bet that the United States Federal Reserve would be less aggressive in its tightening policy due to lower than expected US inflation data in October, a dealer said.

At 9.05am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) garnered 13.67 points to 1,463.41 from Thursday’s close of 1,449.74.

The market bellwether opened 17.45 points better at 1,467.19.

On the broader market, gainers trounced decliners 357 to 63, while 177 counters were unchanged, 1,745 untraded, and 30 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 281.68 million units worth RM114.07 million.

According to news report, the US inflation eased to 7.7 per cent in October 2022 compared with a reading of 8.2 per cent in September 2022, raising hopes that high prices have begun to slow down.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1,200 points while the Nasdaq staged a massive 761 points rally as the US 10-year yield declined to 3.81 per cent.

Back home, he believed the index should break the 1,450 decisively and trend between the range of 1,450 and 1,465 today, in line with the expectation on a much stronger regional performance.

"We believe technology stocks should experience a massive boost today following the steep uptrend on Nasdaq overnight,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Axiata gained seven sen to RM2.93, Digi added six sen to RM3.89, while Maybank and Public Bank perked up two sen to RM8.66 and RM4.45 respectively.

Among the actives, XoX and Advance Synergy were unchanged at two sen and 13 sen respectively, Top Glove increased 2.5 sen to 91 sen, Artroniq climbed five sen to 62.5 sen, and Aimflex improved half-a-sen to 16 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 105.03 points to 10,376.04, the FBM Emas Shariah Index surged 134.75 points to 10,458.64, the FBM 70 soared 158.00 points to 12,294.03, the FBMT 100 Index bagged 102.72 points to 10,111.26, and the FBM ACE advanced 101.76 points to 5,085.55.

Sector-wise, the Transportation and Logistics Index inched up 10.39 points to 821.94, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.30 points to 176.07, the Plantation Index rose 29.05 points to 6,860.43, the Financial Services Index was 93.53 points firmer at 16,420.36, and the Energy Index put on 5.73 points to 716.29. — Bernama