Bursa O&G share prices up as sentiment stays jittery

KUALA LUMPUR (March 10): Bursa Malaysia oil and gas (O&G) stocks gained in morning trades today among top active counters as global crude oil prices rose after closing down about 25% in Monday overnight trades amid oversupply concerns at a time when the Covid-19 outbreak is seen curbing demand for the commodity.

Today, Bumi Armada Bhd’s share price rose 1.5 sen to 17.5 sen at 10:13am with some 84 million units traded. Bumi Armada was Bursa’s top active stock.

Sapura Energy Bhd was up 0.5 sen at 11 sen while Hibiscus climbed three sen to 44 sen. Yesterday, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd hit limit-down after the stock closed down 30 sen at 41 sen.

Today, CGS-CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd analysts wrote in a note that "near-term market sentiment may be adversely impacted by concerns over slower global growth due to Covid-19, political uncertainties, and sudden collapse of crude oil prices".

Reutersreported that oil prices rose by more than US$1 on Tuesday after a price war by top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia sparked the biggest daily rout since the 1991 Gulf War, but investors saw little chance of a quick price recovery as the coronavirus cuts demand.

It was reported that Brent crude futures rose US$1.41 or 4.1% to US$35.77 a barrel by 0034 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained US$1.25 or 4% to US$32.38 a barrel following declines of nearly 25% on Monday.

On Monday, it was reported that Brent crude futures fell US$10.91 or 24.1% to settle at US$34.36 a barrel while WTI crude dropped US$10.15 or 24.6% to settle at US$31.13 a barrel.