KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 28): SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd and Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd fell as much as 32 sen or 10% each after the Securities Commission (SC) removed both firms from its syariah-compliant list.

SapuraKencana fell to its intraday low of RM2.77 while water company Puncak Niaga declined to RM2.99.

Both stocks had later reduced losses. At 11.16am, SapuraKencana was traded at RM2.83 with some 30 million shares done.

SapuraKencana, which became the bourse's fifth-largest decliner, was also the fourth most-active stock.

Puncak Niaga was traded at RM3.09 with about four million shares done. The stock was the ninth-largest decliner.

For comparison, the FBM KLCI fell 5.76 points or 0.31%.

Yesterday, the SC said 30 companies including SapuraKencana, Scomi Group Bhd, CLIQ Energy Bhd, Perdana Petroleum Bhd and Puncak Niaga were removed from the list of syariah-compliant securities.

In a statement, the SC said 40 newly-classified syariah-compliant securities were, however, admitted to the list. This brings the number of syariah-compliant firms to 673 under the SC's list.
 
Meanwhile, the impact of lower crude oil prices might have also impacted share prices of oil and gas-related firms like SapuraKencana and Sumatec Resources Bhd.

Sumatec, the most-active stock, fell as much as 1.5 sen or 6% to 25 sen with about 50 million shares transacted.

Reuters reported that Brent crude oil plunged as much as US$6.50 a barrel on Thursday, and US crude fell by nearly as much, posting the steepest one-day falls since 2011.

Prices fell after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided against cutting output despite a huge oversupply in world markets. Benchmark Brent futures settled at US$72.58 a barrel, down US$5.17. US crude fell US$4.64 to US$69.05 a barrel.