KLCI down 0.8%, but energy stocks up on rising crude prices

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI ended lower on Wednesday on profit-taking pressure even as energy stocks rose amid rising crude oil prices.

At 5pm, the 30-stock index fell 12.59 points, or 0.82% to 1,530.33 after moving between 1,541.70 and 1,525.55.

Market breadth turned negative as losers overpowered the gainers on a ratio of 780-to-258 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 3.56 billion shares valued at RM2.6bil.

Bursa Malaysia's energy index rose 1.13% as oil prices climbed to their highest since 2014 at above US$85 a barrel on a tight supply outlook.

US light crude oil rose 42 cents to US$85.85 a barrel and Brent advanced 20 cents to US$87.71 per barrel.

OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya said Opec+ was falling short of hitting their production quotas and if geopolitical tensions continue to heat up, Brent crude might not need much of a push to get to US$100 a barrel.

It seems a handful of countries and regions, such as UAE, Libya, Kazakhstan, Canada and North Dakota can have a disruption in crude production at any time from geopolitical tensions or due to cold weather, he said.

“The oil market will only get tighter as Asian demand improves and as many countries begin to pass the peak of the omicron variant.

“Both the supply and demand crude fundamentals have turned bullish, which means the US$90 level for Brent crude should be the next big test,” Moya said in a note.

On Bursa Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Kepong added 34 sen to RM21.40, F&N rose 24 sen to RM25.74 and Complete Logistic advanced 23 sen to RM3.15.

MPI tumbled RM2.22 to RM39.78, Nestle lost RM1.60 to RM131.90 and Aeon Credit lost 46 sen to RM14.72.

Among the energy stocks, Bumi Armada added one sen to 53 sen, Hibiscus Petroleum gained one sen to 87.5 sen, KNM closed unchanged at 13.5 sen, Hengyuan rose 14 sen to RM4.02 and Petron climbed one sen to RM4.41.

On the external front, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.61%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 2.8% lower to 27,467.23 while South Korea’s Kospi closed down 21.96 points, or 0.77%, at 2,842.28.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 15.07 points or 0.06% at 24,127.85.

China’s CSI300 index was down 0.68% to 4,780.38 while the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.33% at 3,558.18.