KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 8): The oil & gas (O&G) rally on Bursa Malaysia is still gaining traction with Sapura Energy Bhd and Wah Seong Corp Bhd leading the race today, while their peers are taking a breather after recent sharp rise of their share prices.

Bursa Malaysia’s Energy Index rose 10.91 points or 0.9% to end the morning trading session at 1,228.17 points.

Sapura Energy, which was lagging others when the rally started a few months back, seems to catch up today. The big cap O&G stock went up two sen or 7% in the morning session closed at 29 sen. Trading volume ballooned to 220.35 million shares, which is nearly double of yesterday’s total trading volume of 102.4 million.  

Over at Wah Seong, the stock climbed further, gaining six sen or 5.45% to RM1.16. Trading volume is not substantially lower compared with Sapura Energy, only 3.52 million shares traded in the morning session. 

However, the big jump on Wah Seong share price since October is a jaw-dropping one. The stock has leaped from 60 sen and nearly doubled to RM1.16 in a short spat of five weeks. 

In fact, the soaring share price might have prompted substantial shareholder Tan Chin Nam Sdn Bhd to sell 250,000 shares on the open market on Oct 21, according to the company’s filing to Bursa Malaysia. 

Meanwhile, the company’s deputy managing director Giancarlo Maccagno is expected to have broader smile. He disclosed to the exchange that he bought an additional 23,800 Wah Seong shares on the open market on Oct 1. The value of the block of shares has almost doubled now. 

Prior to that, he also purchased about 164,400 shares between June 26 and July 4.

Velesto Energy Bhd and Bumi Armada Bhd are catching a breath after the strong march in the past few months. Velesto share price was unchanged at 40 sen. It is the ninth most actively-traded counter on Bursa Malaysia in the morning session.

Likewise, Bumi Armada was down 0.5 sen to 47.5 sen with 33.98 million shares exchanging hands so far. The stock is the seventh most traded counter. 

KNM Group Bhd, which share price has more than doubled since July, was also actively traded but the share price was unchanged at 46.5 sen. It is the 16th most active stock in the morning session. 

Dealers said the stocks that have had surged are expected to be in consolidation for a while. It is the time when profit-taking will emerge testing the sustainability of the rally.