Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 17): PPB Group Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) settled among Bursa Malaysia top gainers at the bourse’s afternoon break today in tandem with higher crude oil and crude palm oil (CPO) prices.

CPO prices rise in tandem with crude oil prices as costlier crude oil leads to expectation of higher demand for CPO-based biodiesel.

At Bursa’s 12:30pm break, PPB’s share price settled 36 sen or 1.88% higher at RM19.56 while KLK was up 14 sen or 0.62% at RM22.80.

Prices for Malaysia CPO futures for October 2020 settled up 32 sen at RM2,718 a tonne.

In global crude oil markets, it was reported that oil prices climbed higher on Monday, lifted by China's plans to ship in large volumes of US crude in August and September, outweighing concerns over a slowdown in demand recovery after the coronavirus pandemic and an uptick in supplies.

It was reported that Brent crude rose 21 cents, or 0.5%, to US$45.01 a barrel by 0023 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 27 cents, or 0.6%, to US$42.28 a barrel.

"Chinese state-owned oil firms have tentatively booked tankers to transport at least 20 million barrels of US crude for August and September, Reuters reported on Friday, as China ramped up energy and farm purchases ahead of a review of the Sino-US trade deal. Record crude imports from the world's top importer China and the easing of Covid-19 restrictions globally have supported oil prices, although new waves of coronavirus outbreaks in several countries are expected to cool consumption again.

"ANZ estimated that demand has risen 8 million barrels per day (bpd) over the past four months to 88 million bpd — still 13 million bpd below this time last year. Investors are looking for more clues on future supply from a meeting this week of a panel representing ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+. The meeting of the panel has been pushed back to Aug 19, a day later than previously planned,” Reuters reported.

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