KUALA LUMPUR (April 9): The FBM KLCI closed up 8.37 points or 0.61% today at 1,369.76 as Bursa Malaysia oil and gas (O&G) shares rose with crude oil prices, on expectation that major producers of the commodity will agree to cut output.
Investors are anticipating a truce in the Saudi Arabia-Russia crude oil price war, which has increased supply of the commodity and sent prices lower. The price war does not help crude oil markets at a time when the Covid pandemic has led to expectation of lower demand for crude oil and generated economic uncertainty.
At 5pm today, Bursa saw 4.71 billion shares traded for RM2.25 billion. There were 634 gainers versus 252 decliners, as O&G shares Bumi Armada Bhd, Sapura Energy Bhd and Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd topped Bursa’s most active list.
Top active stock Bumi Armada saw some 200 million shares traded. The stock closed up one sen or 5.71% at 18.5 sen.
Globally, Reuters reported Asian shares rose on Thursday, on hopes the Covid-19 pandemic is nearing a peak and that governments would roll out more stimulus measures to support their economies, while expectations of a deal to cut oil production bolstered crude prices.
It was reported that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia — a group known as OPEC+ — are set to convene a video conference meeting on Thursday.
"Brent crude futures rose by almost 2.6% or 87 cents to US$33.71 a barrel as of 0701 GMT. The contract rose to an intraday high of US$33.90, climbing for a second day. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 5% or US$1.27 cents at US$26.36 a barrel, after earlier climbing by as much as 6.1%,” Reuters said.
In Malaysia today, RHB Investment Bank Bhd technical analyst Chiong Tong Chai wrote in a note that WTI crude ended the latest session on a strong footing, adding US$1.46 to close at US$25.09.
"All in, we believe the commodity’s counter-trend rebound that started from an area near US$19.00 has likely reached its top of US$29.13 on 3 April — implying the risk of downtrend resumption is high. Maintain negative trading bias,” Chiong said.
(story updated)
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