KUALA LUMPUR (March 31): Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) share price continued its positive run, having risen 1.3% buoyed by compelling factors such as a new chief executive officer and strong crude palm oil price.

At 10.47am, the stock climbed two sen to RM1.56, with 8.14 million shares done, for a market capitalisation of RM5.65 billion. The counter has dropped 8.77% year to date.

At the same time, the FBMPALMOIL indices went up 17.02 points or 0.1% to 17,214.199 points, bucking losses across FBMKLCI which dropped 2.27 points to 1,715.55 points.

Interpacific Securities remisier Sam Ng told theedgemarkets.com that although the increase was not much, the counter was sustainable because of the favourable factors.

He pointed out that the palm oil price, which grew to RM2,745 per metric tonne yesterday, was reflected in the sentiment of the shareholders.

Meanwhile, FGV will welcome its new CEO Datuk Zakaria Arshad — who replaces Datuk Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah — tomorrow.

“It is good that FGV selected a person from within the company who [knows] the job, instead of sending an outsider,” he said.

Also, the CPO price has showed an uptrend, following tightening in production output due to the El Nino phenomenon.

MIDF Research believes Malaysian palm oil stockpile will drop to a critical level of 1.5 million metric tonnes, towards the end of the second quarter of the year.

MIDF Research said it expects FGV's fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production to decline in the financial year 2016.