KUALA LUMPUR (April 10): Oil and gas (O&G) related stocks on Bursa Malaysia retreated slightly in active trade today, following news that Mexico refuses to participate in oil-production cuts even as Saudi Arabia and Russia, the biggest producers in the OPEC+ group, agree to take output down.

At the time of writing, O&G stocks dominated the list of top actives on Bursa, led by Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd (down 5.72%) and Bumi Armada Bhd (down 5.41%), as trading volume topped 87 million shares.

Also actively traded were Sapura Energy Bhd (down 4.55%), Velesto Energy Bhd (down 8.83%) and KNM Group Bhd (down 5.88%).

Leading the losers in the sector were Hengyuan Refining Co Bhd (down 10 sen or 3.29% to RM2.94), Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd (down 9 sen or 5.67% to RM1.50), and Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd (down 8 sen or 2.18% to RM3.60).

The Bursa Malaysia Energy Index was the biggest loser among all indices across Bursa Malaysia, retreating 4.12% to 523.08 points — but still off the recent lows.

This is as the local stock market was largely in the red, ahead of Putrajaya’s decision whether to extend the movement control order to contain the Covid-19 outbreak today.

Brent crude spot price shed off US$1.36 to settle at US$31.48 per barrel on Thursday, as OPEC+ led by Saudi and Russia agreed to cuts of 10 million barrels per day, Bloomberg reported.

This is, however, less than desired, with several industry watchers estimating the Covid-19 outbreak to remove oil demand by over 20 million barrels.

Stretching the negotiation was a resistance by Mexico towards the deal, which prompted talks to continue today, the report said, citing sources.