KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas-linked stocks and small cap oil and gas players rose early Thursday following the strong rally in crude oil prices, with Petronas-linked stocks underpinning the FBM KLCI’s advance.
At 9.15am, the KLCI was up 5.4 points or 0.29% to 1,884.72. Turnover was 302.94 million shares valued at RM138.64mil. There were 199 gainers, 97 losers and 188 counters unchanged.
Brent crude futures climbed another 34 cents in early trade to US$73.82 a barrel, adding to a 2.7% jump overnight. US crude gained 30 cents to US$68.77, Reuters reported.
The surge came on a Reuters report that OPEC's new price hawk Saudi Arabia would be happy for crude to rise to US$80 or even US$100, a sign Riyadh will seek no changes to a supply-cutting deal even though the agreement's original target is within sight.
Kenanga Research said overall technical outlook for the KLCI has gradually improved from the sell-down earlier in the month. Key SMAs are currently in a “Golden Cross” state, while the MACD remains its upward movement.
“From here, immediate resistance at around 1,880 (R1) has to be taken out decisively before the technical picture can be considered affirmatively positive. A higher resistance can be expected at 1,910 (R2).
“Conversely, downside supports can be identified at 1,840 (S1) and 1,800 (S2),” it said in its technical outlook.
Petronas Dagangan added 36 sen to RM27.22 and Petronas Gas 14 sen to RM18.66.
Sapura Energy
rose 1.5 sen to 74.5 sen and it was the most active with 46 million shares done, Sumatec, Perisai and UMW OG added 0.5 sen each to seven sen, five sen and 30 sen respectively.
F&N was the top gainer, up 90 sen to RM33.90, Nestle 50 sen to RM148.50 but Apollo fell nine sen to RM3.82. BAT lost four sen to RM22.70.
Allianz gained 46 sen to RM11.10 and Allianz-PA added 34 sen to RM10.74. KESM recovered after the previous day’s sell-down to climb 20 sen to RM16.70. Press Metal-WC added 14 sen to RM4.69 and the shares 10 sen higher at RM5.13.
Genting Bhd and Hong Leong Bank lost six sen each to RM9.01 and RM19.20 while Alliance Bank was down five sen to RM4.35.
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