KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional helped power the FBM KLCI to a higher close on Friday, snapping the downward trend since the May 9 general elections as foreign funds fled the market, worsened by the unfolding of the scandal-hit 1Malaysia Development (1MDB).
At 5pm, the KLCI was up 25.82 points or 1.55% to 1,691.50 with Tenaga contributing nearly 10 points.
However, the 30-stock index is down 5.86% year-to-date. Turnover improved to 2.23 billion shares valued at RM2.987bil. There were 474 gainers, 345 losers and 416 counters unchanged.
At Bursa, investors cheered the government's decision to allow Tenaga to raise non-domestic tariff by 1.35sen/kWh for 2H18 to partially pass through some RM698.2mil under-recovery of fuel cost in 1H18.
AmInvestment Research said while the tariff increase was neutral to Tenaga, it showed that the government has the political will to raise electricity tariffs, at least for the non-domestic sector.
“The latest development will reduce the perceived regulatory risk and hence risk premium of Tenaga,” the research house said.
Key Asian markets were mostly higher as the second quarter drew to an end. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.61%, Shanghai Composite Index surged 2.17% and CSI 300 advanced 2.55%.
At Bursa, Tenaga jumped 98 sen to RM14.64 and added 9.92 points to the KLCI.
Public Bank rose 36 sen to RM23.36, Maybank 16 sen to RM9, RHB Bank added nine sen to RM5.46 while Hong Leong Bank was unchanged at RM18.20. CIMB shed five sen to RM5.45.
As for telcos, Maxis rebounded 19 sen to RM5.46, Digi 18 sen to RM4.15, Telekom five sen to RM3.11 but Axiata fell 17 sen to RM3.80 and erased 2.74 points from the KLCI.
KLCC gained 54 sen to RM8, Press Metal
20 sen to RM4.36, IHH 11 sen to RM6.10, MISC 10 sen to RM5.92 while Genting Bhd rose three sen to RM8.41. Genting Malaysia shed two sen to RM4.88.
US light crude oil fell 22 cents to US$73.23 but Brent climbed 52 sen to US$78.37.
Petronas Chemical edge dup one sen to RM8.41, Petronas Dagangan was flat at RM24.80 but PetronasGas fell 22 sen to RM17.30. Dialog gained two sen to RM3.09.
As for glove makers, Top Glove jumped52 sen to RM12.14 and Hartalega 31 sen higher at RM5.99.
Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM2 to RM2,322 per tonne. PPB Group gained two sen to RM19.68, IOI Corp rose four sen to RM4.54 and KL Kepong addedsix sen toRM14.26.
Sime Plantation fell two sen to RM5.33, Sime Darby edged up two sen to RM2.45 while Sime Property unchanged at RM1.20.
The ringgit gained against the US dollar, up 0.12% to 4.0375. However, it fell 0.4% to the pound sterling at 5.3146, weakened 0.66% against the euro to 4.7036 and lost 0.23% to the Singapore dollar to 2.9624.
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