KUALA LUMPUR: Penny oil and gas stocks advanced in active trade early Tuesday on rising crude oil prices but the FBM KLCI was weighed down by profit taking on Maxis, Digi and extended selling of Public Bank.
At 9.22am, the KLCI was down 2.33 points or 0.14% to 1,642.02. Turnover was 434.42 million shares valued at RM203.55mil. There were 216 gainers, 144 losers and 280 counters unchanged.
Oil prices reached their highest since November as concerns over exports from war-torn Libya stoked tightness in the market, with global supply already hit by Opec-led production cuts and US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, Reuters reported.
Brent futures rose six cents to US$71.16 while US crude oil was up 18 cents to US$64.77.
On the external front, Asian shares got off to a subdued start as investors braced for key events later in the week, including the kick-off of the US earnings season and a crucial Brexit summit, while broader concerns over slowing global growth checked sentiment, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was basically flat after brushing its highest since late August last year during the previous session. Australian shares dipped 0.25% while Japan's Nikkei was down 0.15%.
At Bursa, oil stocks rose in active trade with KNM up 0.5 sen to 18 sen with 25 million shares done, Dayang added three sen to RM1.57, Perdana one sen to 45.5 sen while Carmin gained 1.5 sen to 98.5 sen and Dayang three sen to RM1.24.
Petronas Dagangan added 24 sen to RM25.28 and it was the top gainer.
Maxis fell 12 sen to RM5.58 and gave up its gains from Monday while Digi shed three sen to RM4.67.
Public Bank lost eight sen to RM22.54, MAHB six sen to RM7.02, IOI Corp five sen to RM4.48 while AirAsia shed four sen to RM2.63.
CanOne added 12 sen to RM3.22, MSM eight sen to RM1.77, George Kent five sen to RM1.25.
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