KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional's all-time earnings in its fiscal year ended Aug 31, 2016 helped power the FBM KLCI early Friday while key Asian markets were lacklustre.
At 9.32am, the KLCI was up 1.74 points or 0.1% to 1,670.77. Turnover was 241.41 million shares valued at RM189.61mil. There were 152 gainers, 178 losers and 235 counters unchanged.
Asian stocks made a subdued start, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edging down 0.l%, reflecting Wall Street's unconvincing performance overnight. Australian stocks fell 0.1% while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.6% on a weaker yen, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, oil prices dipped early on Friday, weighed down by lingering doubts over whether OPEC can coordinate a crude production cut big enough to rein in oversupply that has dogged markets for two years.
International Brent crude oil futures were trading at US$50.39 per barrel at 0033 GMT, down eight cents from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down five cents at US$49.67 a barrel, Reuters reported.
On the technical outlook for the KLCI, Kenang Investment Bank Research said based on Thursday's performance, the KLCI broke down from its key support-turned-resistance level of 1,672 (R1) to revert back to its consolidation channel.
“Besides, a bearish candlestick was formed post the formation of a ‘Doji’ candlestick to dictate a bearish-bias direction for the underlying index.
“Coupled with the down-tick seen in RSI and Stochastic indicator, the immediate outlook for the local bourse is looking bleak with bias towards the downside.
“All in, if the FBMKLCI fails to swiftly recapture the key 1,672 (R1) level soon, it could look to end the week on a lower note closer towards the 1,650 (S1) level. Next levels of resistance and support are located at 1,680 (R1) and 1,642 (S2), respectively,” it said.
Tenaga charged 16 sen to RM14.48, also boosted by its dividend. CIMB Equities Research keeps Tenaga Nasional as its top pick for the utilities sector after the strong financial performance for FY ended Aug 31, 2016
“FY16 was the most profitable year for Tenaga, so far as its FY16 core net profit was 13% higher on-year, at RM7.7bil,” said the research house.
HL Industries added 22 sen to RM9.90, Melati Ehsan surged for the third day, up 20 sen to RM1.21, Country View rose 17 sen to RM1.65 and BSL Corp jumped14.5 sen to 37.4 sen.
However, Gadang fell 38 sen to RM2.19 with 12.12 million shares done. Tasek lost 26 sen to RM14.56, Bursa lost 10 sen to RM8.63 and Axiata was down six sen to RM5.01.
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