KUALA LUMPUR (June 3): Oil and gas (O&G) stocks were the most active stocks on Bursa Malaysia in the first hour of trading today after oil prices reached a three-month high.
As of 9.33am, shares in Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd were up by 2.92% or two sen to 70.5 sen per share, the highest it has been in almost three months. Hibiscus, which now has a market value of RM1.13 billion, was the most actively traded stock in the morning trading session, with some 118.7 million shares transacted.
Following Hibiscus was Velesto Energy Bhd. Velesto, which saw some 88.95 million shares change hands, rose by 2.86% or half a sen to 18 sen apiece, valuing it at some RM1.48 billion. Like Hibiscus, this is the highest the counter has reached in almost three months.
In the third place was Bumi Armada Bhd, which rose by 5.88% or 1.5 sen to 27 sen, valuing it at some RM1.59 billion. The counter saw some 86.06 million shares transacted.
KNM Group Bhd posted a gain of 1.89% or half a sen to 27 sen, with a trading volume of 70.53 million shares. Meanwhile, Icon Offshore Bhd advanced by 10.71% or 1.5 sen to 15.5 sen, with a volume of 69.52 million shares.
While Sapura Energy Bhd had been unchanged as at the time of writing at 10.5 sen, the upstream O&G company saw 54.85 million shares done, making it the sixth most actively traded stock on the local stock exchange this morning.
Alam Maritim Resources Bhd also saw greater trading interest, rising by 5.26% or half a sen to 10 sen apiece, with a volume of 52.57 million shares.
Perdana Petroleum Bhd gained 5.26% or a sen to 20 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM5.26. It saw 50.42 million shares change hands.
Reuters reported earlier this morning that oil prices had risen to a near three-month high amid optimism that major producers will extend production cuts as the global economy begins its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the newswire, sources said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and others, including Russia, may extend production cuts of 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd), equivalent to 10% of global output, into July or August.
“A meeting of the grouping known as Opec+ is expected to be held online on Thursday (tomorrow). The cuts are currently due to run through May and June, scaling back to a reduction of 7.7 million bpd from July to December, but Saudi Arabia has been pushing to keep the deeper cuts in place for longer,” said the report.
It reported that the benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude and Brent crude had risen in recent weeks following the continued recovery in China, with other economies slowly opening up.
As at the time of writing, Brent crude was up 2.07% or 87 cents to US$40.39 (RM172.06) a barrel , while WTI crude was up by 2.74% or US$1.01 to US$37.82 a barrel.
