KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 5): The FBM KLCI rose 2.92 points or 0.2% as Tenaga Nasional Bhd jumped 56 sen or 4% to become Bursa Malaysia's top gainer.
 
The KLCI finished at 1,688.54 at 5pm. State-owned utility Tenaga, which was also the eighth most-active stock, closed at RM13.20.

Tenaga rose after The Edge Financial Daily, quoting sources, reported that the company put in the lowest bid to buy 1Malaysia Development Bhd's unit, Edra Global Energy Bhd.

It was reported Tenaga's bid was about 20% lower than the closest competing bid from a foreign consortium, giving the latter an advantage over Tenaga in the Edra tender.

Across Bursa Malaysia, 2.18 billion shares, valued at RM2.17 billion, were traded. The bourse saw 453 gainers, 412 decliners and 354 unchanged counters.

Top decliners included British American Tobacco (M) Bhd and PPB Group Bhd. The most active counter was Sanichi Technology Bhd.

The weaker ringgit was closely watched in anticipation of a US interest rate hike this December. A US rate hike does not bode well for emerging Asian assets, as investors turn their attention to US dollar-based entities.

The ringgit weakened to 4.2985 against a strengthening US dollar. Reuters reported Asian stocks broke a two-day rising streak on Thursday, after top U.S. Federal Reserve officials kept the door open to a December interest rate hike, sending short-term U.S. bond yields to 4-1/2-year highs and giving a boost to a resurgent dollar.

In Malaysia, Maybank Investment Bank regional chartist Lee Cheng Hooi told theedgemarkets.com that the ringgit had also responded to weaker crude oil prices.
 
“The ringgit was also weaker against the US dollar on a softer Brent crude oil price, so [there's] no real (external factor) influence that can be linked to the index being up,” Lee told theedgemarkets.com.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)