KUALA LUMPUR: Power giant Tenaga Nasional single handedly propped up the FBM KLCI on Thursday amid a mixed broader market while the ringgit fell the most in a week.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI was up 2.92 points or 0.17% to 1,688.54. Turnover was 2.18 billion shares valued at RM2.17bil. There were 453 gainers, 412 losers and 412 stocks unchanged.
Bloomberg reported the ringgit fell by the most in a week after futures traders boosted odds for a US interest-rate increase in December and amid an overnight slump in Brent crude.
The ringgit weakened against the major currencies. It weakened to 4.2985 against the US dollar from 4.2650; and was weaker against the pound sterling to 6.6158 from 6.5776 and was at 3.0601 to the Singapore unit from 3.0497.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) kept the overnight policy rate (OPR) unchanged at 3.25% on Thursday and cautioned that downside risks to growth remain high.
Tenaga rose to a high of RM13.70 but eased off the intra-day high to RM13.20 – up 56 sen. It pushed the KLCI up 5.4 points.
The rally in the share price followed news that it has submitted the lowest bid for Edra Global Energy Bhd.
Among the banks, Maybank rose three sen to RM8.39, Public Bank two sen to RM18.20 while CIMB and AmBank rose one sen each to RM4.71 and RM4.79 while Hong Leong Bank fell two sen to RM14.06. RHB Cap skidded 12 sen to RM6.16.
US light crude oil rose 31 cents to US$46.63 and the Brent firmed up 37 cents to US$48.95. SK Petro fell seven sen to RM2.19, Petronas Chemicals one sen to RM6.55 while Petronas Dagangan and Petronas Gas RM22.56 and RM23.
Crude palm oil for third-month delivery rose RM10 to RM2,370, off the intra-day high of RM2,386.
PPB Group fell the most, down 38 sen to RM15.62, Sime Darby eight sen to RM8.35 and IOI Corp one sen lower at RM4.34 while KL Kepong was flat at RM22.96.
BAT continued to come under selling pressure for the second day after the cigarette producer hiked up prices after the 40% increase in excise duties. BAT fell RM1.20 to RM59.62.
However, Huat Lai bucked the cautious market to climb 45 sen to a record high of RM4.85 on expectations of higher earnings in the third quarter.
PIE rose 27 sen to RM8.34, Pestech 23 sen RM6.61, Success Transformers 22 sen to RM2.22 and CI Holdings
20 sen to RM2.37.
Among the key regional markets,
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1% to 19,116.41;
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.01% to 23,041.04;
Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 1.83% to 3,522.82;
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.08% to 8,850.18;
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.16% to 2,049.41; and
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.49% to 3,025.65.
Spot gold rose US$1.50 to US$1,109.40.
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