Surging oil prices push Bursa Malaysia to close at intra-day high

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia rebounded to close better with the benchmark FTSE Burse Malaysia (FBM KLCI) finishing at an intra-day high of 1,647.47, up 11.94 points.
Continuous buying support in oil and gas related stocks, boosted by higher oil prices lent much needed support for share prices, a dealer said.
The key index lingered between 1,637.14 and 1,647.47 throughout the day after opening 3.45 points better at 1,638.98 this morning.
Across the market, advancers led losers 564 to 270 with 315 unchanged, 578 untraded and 21 others were suspended.
Volume increased to 1.98 billion shares, worth RM1.64 billion, from Tuesday's 1.67 billion shares valued at RM1.07 billion.
Mercury Securities Sdn Bhd Research Head Edmund Tham said rising oil prices supported trading sentiment today but whether the momentum would continue would very much depend on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' execution of oil supply cut.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures improved 17 cents and was traded at US$52.50 per barrel and Brent crude futures were up 21 cents at US$55.68 a barrel, following the expected tightening of physical oil supplies.
"The local bourse performance will also rely on the ringgit as it is now trading at the lowest level, making it less attractive to foreign investors," he told Bernama.
Of the counters that supported the key index were Sime, which went up 30 sen to RM8.49, Maybank gained seven sen to RM8.08, RHBBank rose eight sen to RM4.77, PBBank inched up six sen to RM19.82 and Digi edged up three sen to RM4.89.
Meanwhile, Petronas-related counters, PChem increased 12 sen to RM7.11, Pet Gas went up 10 sen at RM21.48 but PetDag reduced two sen to RM23.78.
Of actives, FGV was flat at RM1.68 but its call warrants improved half-a-sen to four sen, KNM improved 1.5 sen to 37 sen and Airasia dropped eight sen to RM2.23.
Among gainers, BAT advanced 40 sen to RM45.0, Armada gained 1.5 sen to 66 sen, Reach improved two sen to 68 sen while its warrants were flat at 12.5 sen., Hibiscs and Iris both edged up one sen each to 44.5 sen and 12.5 sen, respectively.
Meanwhile, MayPak announced that it would be delisted from the official list of Bursa Malaysia on Jan 9 following the unconditional mandatory take-over by Taisei Lamick Co Ltd.
MayPak shares have been suspended since Dec 14, 2016.
The FBM Emas Index climbed 81.57 points to 11,535.29, FBMT 100 Index rose 76.66 points to 11,247.58 and the FBM Ace was 98.73 points better at 4,867.43.
The FBM Emas Syariah Index added 97.13 points to 12,118.74 and the FBM 70 was up 71.41 points at 13,177.44.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index rose 39.57 points to 3,169.06, the Finance Index jumped 99.68 points to 14,406.10 and the Plantation Index advanced 16.87 points to 7,807.45.
Main Market turnover rose to 1.41 billion units, worth RM1.57 billion, from yesterday's 1.29 billion units valued at RM1.02 billion.
The ACE Market volume increased to 331.82 million shares, worth RM42.7 million from 192.19 million shares, valued at RM22.17 million, chalked up on Tuesday.
Warrants were higher at 233.73 million, worth RM32.8 million, from 179.43 million units, valued at RM31.45 million, recorded yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 97.28 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (414.96 million), construction (66.06 million), trade and services (619.66 million), technology (57.21 million), infrastructure (8.23 million), SPAC (6.39 million), finance (49.09 million), hotels (159,600), properties (41.59 million), plantations (27.92 million), mining (21,000), REITs (25.2 million), and closed/fund (4,200).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM162.70 per gramme, up 1.58 from RM161.12 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama