KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18): Energy-related stocks retreated in the morning session today as crude oil price fell below US$35 a barrel due to an ongoing global supply glut.

At 11.45am, Petronas Dagangan Bhd was listed among the top ten decliners, shedding as much as 12 sen or 0.5% to RM23.96 before paring losses to trade at RM24. A total of 50,100 shares were traded.

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd declined 2 sen or 0.29% to RM6.98 with 1.42 million shares done.

Uzma Bhd shed one sen or 0.52% to RM1.92, with 22,500 shares done, while Dialog Group Bhd dropped 2 sen or 1.25% to RM1.58 with 421,500 shares changing hands.

UMW Oil and Gas Corporation Bhd was down one sen or 0.92% at RM1.08 with 111,400 shares traded.

Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd dipped 0.5 sen or 1.81% to 27 sen with 1.18 million shares done, while Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd also shed 0.5 sen or 2% to 24.5 sen 1.63 million shares changing hands.

Sapurakencana Petroleum Bhd remained unchanged at RM1.84 with 763,800 shares traded, while Barakah Offshore Petroleum Bhd gained 0.5 sen or 0.56% to 89 sen with 66,000 shares done.

Reuters reported today that crude futures fell in Asian trading as a build-up of inventory and the Federal Reserve interest rate hike added pressure on prices as a global oil glut shows no sign of abating.

Crude oil prices slid to a seven-year low early this week as the United States government announced on Wednesday that it is close to ending the nation's 40-year restrictions on crude exports and as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries abandoned output limits at a Dec 4, 2015 meeting, Bloomberg reported today.

The January futures contract for WTI crude oil was trading down 8 cents at US$34.87 a barrel while the January 2016 contract for Brent crude oil gained 0.5 sen to US$37.11 a barrel.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)