SELLING pressure hit the local bourse at lunch break ahead of the weekend, as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies’ readiness to cut oil production by 10 million barrels per day disappointed oil traders, saying it did not meet their bullish expectation.
At 12.30pm, key index FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 11.35 points, or 0.829%, to 1,358.41 from 1,369.76 at Thursday’s close.
The key index opened 8.14 points weaker at 1,361.62 and moved between 1,354.28 and 1,362.16 during the morning session.
On the scoreboard, losers thumped gainers 598 to 139, while 297 counters were unchanged, 885 untraded and 33 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.17 billion shares worth RM826.28 mil.
A dealer said even though OPEC and its allies may have reached a commitment to cut oil production by 10 million barrels per day in both May and June, it is still not enough. Hence, Brent crude oil fell to US$31.48 per barrel, down by 4.14%.
Commenting on the development, AxiCorp global chief market strategist Stephen Innes said the cut would not be enough to balance the market.
“But the deal was never about pushing WTI (West Texas Intermediate) to US$30s per barrel, although that would have been a welcome relief. Instead, it was about preventing oil prices from collapsing into a single digit.
“In that regard, the deal should be sufficient to handle the oversupply with the available storage capacity around the world,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said the FBM KLCI has already shown a slight increase beginning this week.
Last Friday, the index stood at 1,325.39.
“Investors therefore are in the mood to take profit especially now, ahead of the weekend,” he told Bernama, adding that the government’s possible extension of the movement control order (MCO) today also set a cautious mood among investors.
Yee added that the supply cut commitment by OPEC and its allies will not make any drastic changes to the price as the demand for crude oil has collapsed since countries restrict their people from travelling.
Moving forward, he sees crude oil trading at between US$25 and US$30 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve announced another aid package amounting to US$2.3 tril to revive the economy and cushion the fallout from Covid-19, which investors hope would influence the regional market.
Of the heavyweights on Bursa, Maybank fell one sen to RM7.50, Public Bank declined eight sen to 15.80, IHH shed three sen to RM5.08, while Tenaga was six sen better at RM12.10.
Top gainers were led by Allianz, which rose 18 sen to RM13, Panasonic increased 12 sen to RM27.10 and KLK was 10 sen higher at RM21.10.
Among the actives, oil and gas linked companies, Hibiscus Petroleum, Bumi Armada and Velesto erased three sen, one sen and 1.5 sen each to 49.5 sen, 17.5 sen and 15.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index gave up 80.24 points to 9,389.67, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 39.95 points to 10,364.13 and the FBMT 100 Index depreciated 75.75 points to 9,285.05.
The FBM 70 dropped 81.72 points to 10,969.71 and the FBM Ace erased 124.52 points to 4,055.18.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.78 of a point to 109.66, the Financial Services Index contracted 228.22 points to 12,246.90 and the Plantation Index fell 39.19 points to 6,244.66. — April 10, 2020, Bernama
