KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29): The FBM KLCI rose with Asian shares today after US stocks climbed to record closing highs on Friday. Reuters reported that the latest round of strong US earnings reports, including from Intel and AbbVie, along with continued weakness in the dollar lifted each of the major Wall Street indexes to closing records on Friday.

At Bursa Malaysia today, the KLCI opened 2.44 points or 0.1% higher at 1,856.36 points. At 9:03am, the index was traded at 1,858.97 points. Across Asian share markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.62% while South Korea's Kospi added 1.03%. 

In Malaysia, Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd wrote in a note today : "Despite KLCI maintaining its move above 1,840 on the back of buying interest among banking stocks, coupled with the heavy foreign funds inflow, which stood at RM3.31bn ytd, we think the upward move might be limited as local participants may look for opportunities to take profit after a stretched rally from the 1,760 level within a span of 5 weeks." 

"Also, news flow related to GE14 (Malaysia's 14th general election) that may surface in the near term could send cautious note to the market, resulting (in) a higher volatility move on KLCI," Hong Leong said.

US stocks rose on Friday. It was reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 223.92 points or 0.85% to 26,616.71, the S&P 500 gained 33.62 points or 1.18% to 2,872.87 and the Nasdaq Composite added 94.61 points or 1.28% to 7,505.77. For the week, the Dow rose 2.08%, the S&P 500 gained 2.22% and the Nasdaq advanced 2.31%.