KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 22): Bursa Malaysia opened marginally higher on Friday, tracking Wall Street's upbeat performance overnight as all three major indices (Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq and S&P 500) closed broadly higher following declines a day before.

At 9.15am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) increased slightly by 0.38 of a point to 1,455.96 from Thursday's close of 1,455.58.

The FBM KLCI opened 1.18 points firmer at 1,456.76.

In the broader market, gainers surpassed decliners 178 to 133 while 260 counters were unchanged, 1,735 untraded, and 12 suspended.

Turnover amounted to 215.00 million units worth RM108.65 million.

Rakuten Trade equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said the Dow Jones Industrial Average overnight added 322 points while the Nasdaq jumped by 182 points despite the US 10-year yield closing higher at 3.892%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index ended flat on Thursday as sentiment remained cautious led by declines among tech-related stocks ahead of the long Christmas break next week.

"Back home, the FBM KLCI reversed its uptrend to end at 1,455.58 having failed to break the 1,465 level after several attempts. Nonetheless, we expect some bargain-hunting activities to emerge today and the index to hover within the 1,455-1,465 range with interest on banking and utilities stocks," he told Bernama.

Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank added one sen to RM8.90 while Public Bank also rose one sen to RM4.28. CIMB eased one sen to RM5.79, Tenaga Nasional lost four sen to RM9.96, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.21. 

Of the actives, Critical Holdings went up two sen to 60.5 sen, Iskandar Waterfront City put on 2.5 sen to 72 sen, Ekovest perked one sen to 49 sen, while Leform was flat at 41.5 sen and Kinergy Advancement at 39 sen.

On the index board, the FBM ACE Index improved by 8.23 points to 5,234.81, the FBM Emas Index recovered 1.41 points to 10,820.13 and the FBMT 100 Index gained 0.04 of-a-point to 10,485.87, but the FBM 70 Index shed 10.92 points to 14,575.60, the FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down 2.91 points to 11,000.19.

Sector-wise, the Property Index added 0.99 of-a-point to 858.92, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.01 of-a-point to 172.12, and the Financial Services Index strengthened 14.04 points to 16,282.11, while the Plantation Index shrank 4.84 points to 7,027.36 and the Energy Index dropped 1.37 points to 816.65.