Wal-Mart shares rose almost 4 percent Friday after the company said it would scale back the number of planned U.S. superstore openings this year by more than 25 percent, a move calculated to drop the company’s capital expenditures by $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would open between 190 and 200 new supercenters in the U.S. during its current 2008 fiscal year. About 80 of the supercenters originally scheduled to open next year now will be expected to open in 2009.