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Slow start to December for Bursa, Tenaga weighs

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia eked out slight gains early Monday to put the new month of December on a slow mode after last Friday’s battering by foreign funds, especially for power giant Tenaga Nasional.

At 9.15am, the FBM KLCI was up 2.43 points or 0.16% to 1,564.17. Turnover was 247.08 million shares valued at RM78.88mil. There were 180 gainers, 163 losers and 228 counters unchanged.

Global shares ticked up and oil rebounded after a big fall late last week, as investors clung to hopes China and the US could reach a compromise in trade talks although increasing tensions over Hong Kong unsettled market confidence, Reuters reported.

MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.17% while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.85%.

MSCI’s broadest gauge of world shares, all-country world index, ticked up 0.07% and stood within reach of its all-time peak hit in January 2018.

At Bursa last Friday, foreign funds were net sellers at RM339mil. For the week, foreign funds stepped up their selling pressure, with net selling reaching to RM761.2mil but this was absorbed by local institutions at RM619.1mil and local retail investors at RM142.2mil.

Ajinomoto rose 22 sen to RM15.50, PPB and Petronas Gas 16 sen each to RM18.36 and RM15.66 while QL Resources added 15 sen to RM7.40.

Hong Leong Bank and Daibochi added 10 sen each to RM17 and RM2.30 while Master-Pack gained nine sen to RM2.56.

FGV rose two sen to RM1.35 in active trade after narrowing its losses.

Nestle lost 60 sen to RM142.70, Hengyuan 17 sen to RM4.20, KLK 14 sen to RM23.20 while BAT lost eight sen to RM16.22.

Tenaga came under continued selling after a whopping tax bill of RM3.98bil, falling 12 sen to RM13.04. Last Friday, it skidded 56 sen to RM13.16 and wiped out 5.63 points from the KLCI.

Mulpha International lost nine sen to RM1.90 after it posted net losses of RM299.32mil in the third quarter ended Sept 30,2019, severely impacted by impairment of investment in Aveo in Australia.

Mulpha sinks deeper into the red on Aveo impairment

Pentamaster lost five sen to RM4.43, extending its losses after it was classified as non-Shariah compliant.

Source: TheStar