Tenaga, Axiata shore up KLCI amid weaker broader market, ringgit falls

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional and Axiata shored up the FBM KLCI at midday on Friday but the overall tone of the broader market was weaker as the ringgit lost ground against the stronger US dollar and other key currencies.

At 12.30pm, the KLCI was up 2.63 points or 0.15% to 1,792.64. Turnover was 1.03 billion shares valued at RM807.64mil. Decliners beat advancers 449 to 266 while 389 counters were unchanged.

Asian stocks were little changed on Friday, as investors searched for catalysts in the wake of a resumption of the US technology rout overnight, Reuters reported. 

The US dollar stood tall in Asia on Friday, on track for weekly gains against a currency basket, after upbeat US economic data gave investors reason to hope the Federal Reserve will stick with its plan to hike rates, it said.

The ringgit fell 0.26% to the US dollar to 4.2787 and weakened 0.83% to the pound sterling to 5.4635 while it lost 0.02% to the euro to 4.7690. However, it edged up 0.15% to the Singapore dollar at 3.0878. 

Tenaga rose six sen to RM14.48 and added 0.56 of a point to the KLCI. MISC and Genting Malaysia added two sen each to RM7.37 and RM5.77 but Genting Bhd lost 10 sen to RM9.73.

As for telcos, Telekom gained nine sen to RM6.64, Axiata rose three sen to RM5, Maxis and Digi one sen to RM6.02 and RM4.97.

Among the banks and finance stocks, HLFG rose 24 sen to RM17.58, Hong Leong Bank 10 sen higher at RM15.50, Public Bank added six sen to RM20.44, RHB Bank two sen higher at RM5.11 but AmBank and CIMB shed one sen to RM5 and RM6.75. Also down one sen was Maybank to RM9.63.

US light crude oil rose three cents to US$44.49 and Brent gained five cents to US$46.97. Petronas Chemicals and Petronas Dagangan rose two sen each to RM7.18 and RM24.22 but Petronas Gas lost four sen to RM18.94.

Refiner Hengyuan lost 14 sen to RM5.67.

Pharmaceutical company Kotra sprung a surprise and jumped 28 sen to RM2.03 with 293,000 shares done. 

Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM25 to RM2,474 per tonne. Sime edged up one sen to RM9.62,  IOI Corp and PPB Group rose two sen each to RM4.49 and RM20.44, KL Kepong added six sen to RM24.80.

Among the key regional markets,

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.66% to 19,963.49;

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.44% to 25,677.88;

CSI 300 lost 0.19% to 3,522.03;

Shanghai’s Composite Index lost 0.26% to 3,124.42;

Hang Seng China Enterprise  rose 0.53% to 10,400.93;

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.58% to 10,146.57;

South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.05% to 2,360.43 and

Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.21% to 3,238.94.

Spot gold fell US$1.01 to US$1,252.97.