KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd rose as much as 23 sen or 16.43% to RM1.63 today while its subsidiary Perdana Petroleum Bhd climbed 1.5 sen or 5.17% to 30.5 sen. Analysts said investors may be taking cue from both oil and gas support service providers' latest financial results, which showed them reporting profits against losses a year earlier.

At 5pm, Dayang closed 18 sen up at RM1.58 with some 93 million shares traded. Dayang was the most-actively traded counter on Bursa Malaysia. Perdana Petroleum settled unchanged at 29 sen with about 59 million shares transacted.

"Both the group (Dayang) and its subsidiary Perdana Petroleum posted a net profit in their recent results which could have spiked investor interest. As it is, the maintenance services division is a recession-proof segment that will be able to weather any external factors affecting the industry," an analyst told theedgemarkets.com today.

Dayang and Perdana Petroleum reported last month, their financial results for the fourth quarter (4QFY18) and full year (FY18) ended Dec 31, 2018.

Dayang said 4QFY18 net profit stood at RM97.72 million against a net loss of RM55.21 million a year earlier. For the full year, the group had posted cumulative FY18 net profit of RM164.22 million against a net loss of RM144.89 million a year earlier.

Perdana Petroleum said 4QFY18 net profit stood at RM9.12 million versus a net loss of RM43.71 million in the previous year, while cumulative FY18 full-year net loss narrowed to RM40.91 million from a net loss of RM186.11 million.