KUALA LUMPUR (March 16): Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s (TNB) share price rose as much as 16 sen or 1.5% to RM10.82 in morning trade on Bursa Malaysia today after the government-controlled utility announced yesterday its dividend ex and payment dates.

TNB also confirmed yesterday that the company through its wholly-owned subsidiary TNB Renewables Sdn Bhd had received the letter of notification as a shortlisted bidder from the Energy Commission (EC) for TNB Renewables to develop a 50MWa.c. (75MWd.c.) large-scale solar photovoltaic plant in Bukit Selambau, Kedah.

At 10.17am today, TNB’s share price had pared gains at RM10.78 after trading between RM10.82 and RM10.72 so far today.

At RM10.78, TNB had a market value of about RM61.45 billion based on the company’s 5.7 billion issued shares.

TNB plans to pay total dividends of 58 sen a share comprising an 18 sen final payout and a 40 sen special dividend for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2020 (4QFY20).

Yesterday, the company said in Bursa filings that the final and special dividends’ ex and payment dates fall on March 30 and April 16, 2021 respectively.

In another Bursa filing yesterday, TNB said it had received the EC’s letter of notification last Friday subsequent to a competitive bid process conducted by the EC.

"The letter of notification requires TNB Renewables to fulfil certain requirements, which will be issued by the EC in due time,” TNB said.

TNB’s share price rise today was not unexpected. 

TA Securities Holdings Bhd analysts wrote in a note today that besides oil and gas (O&G) related stocks, which should continue to attract bargain hunters given the firm global oil price trend, "stocks related to renewable or clean energy should also attract buyers on the sunny outlook for the sector”.

CGS-CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd analysts wrote in a note today that foreign investors were net buyers of Malaysian stocks Supermax Corp Bhd, TNB and Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) last week.

The analysts said today foreign investors were the largest net buyers of Malaysian equities at RM241 million last week.

"Foreign investors were the most significant net buyers last week (March 8 to 12), and they were net buyers of Supermax, TNB and DNeX.

"They were mainly buying the healthcare, consumer product and energy sectors,” the analysts said.