KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — Bursa Malaysia opened higher on Friday in sync with Wall Street’s strong overnight performance, spearheaded by Nasdaq as buyers reemerged after the latest US personal consumption expenditure (PCE) for January came in within market expectations.

At 9.10am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) added 4.24 points to 1,555.68 from yesterday’s close of 1,551.44.

The benchmark index opened 1.72 points firmer at 1,553.16.

On the broader market, sentiment was positive with gainers leading losers 224 to 215, while 279 counters were unchanged, 1,542 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Turnover amounted to 371.08 million units worth RM235.33 million.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street’s overnight performance was broadly higher; the Nasdaq jumped 144 points while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 47 points as the US 10-year yield dipped further to 4.254 per cent.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was slightly lower due to profit-taking activities coupled with weak earnings reports from Baidu and Budweiser, he said.

“Nonetheless, overall sentiment should stabilise following the removal of curbs on home purchases and property financing limits,” he told Bernama.

Back home, Thong believes buying blue chips will continue as most are still trading below their historical average valuations. He thus expects the index to hover within the 1,550-1,560 range today.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank perked seven sen to RM9.60, CIMB inched up one sen to RM6.47, Tenaga Nasional went up six sen to RM11.32, Petronas Chemicals edged up two sen to RM7.02, but Public Bank was one sen lower at RM4.39.

As for the actives, Harvest Miracle Capital gained 1.5 sen to 16 sen, Vsolar Group expanded 3.5 sen to 19 sen, RGB International lost half-a-sen to 28.5 sen, Jaks Resources slid one sen to 18 sen, while Hong Seng Consolidated was flat at 1.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 22.92 points firmer at 11,514.74, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 24.86 points to 11,183.06, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lifted 25.13 points to 11,553.12, the FBM 70 Index extended 10.99 points to 15,457.14, and the FBM ACE Index eased 20.29 points to 4,747.84.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index improved by 47.73 points to 17,364.23, the Plantation Index was up by 9.34 points to 7,204.01, the Industrial Products and Services Index reduced by 0.03 of-a-point to 176.25, and the Energy Index decreased by 1.83 points to 922.87. — Bernama