Bursa Malaysia's Energy Index, which tracks oil and gas-related shares on the local bourse, pulled back today from its all-time high amidst concerns about an escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran.
At 10.30am, the Energy Index was one of the only three sub-indices in red and the largest index decliner across the local bourse, down 1.46% or 18.81 points at 1,272.44. The benchmark FBM KLCI, in comparison, was up 0.91% or 14.48 points at 1,612.24.
Energy-related counters continued to take up Bursa's top active list today.
Alam Maritim Resources Bhd, which closed near its two-year high on Monday, was the most actively traded counter with some 90 million shares done at the time of writing. The stock fell half a sen or 2.7% to 18 sen, for a market capitalization of RM193.53 million.
Similarly, Sapura Energy Bhd edged down half a sen to 28.5 sen, while Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd lost three sen or 2.86% to RM1.02.
Oil prices jumped while global stocks fell on Friday after the US killed a top Iranian military commander in an airstrike, shoving geopolitics to the top of investors’ agenda for the new year.
Brent crude jumped 3.5 percent to more than $68 a barrel, putting the international oil benchmark on track for its biggest gain in a month.
US stocks dropped as the S&P 500 slid 0.7 percent — though better than a fall of 1.1 percent in early morning trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite also clawed back a portion of their losses in afternoon trading and were each down 0.8 percent.
Similarly, Sapura Energy Bhd edged down half a sen to 28.5 sen, while Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd lost three sen or 2.86% to RM1.02.
Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday, coming off their highest levels in months, as markets await Iran's response to the killing of its top military commander by the US. It had on Monday spiked to trade in the neighborhood of US$70 per barrel, a price not seen since last September, on fears that any escalation of tensions between Iran and the US would disrupt energy supplies from the Middle East region that accounts for nearly half of the world's oil production.
Geopolitical risks are still alive and kicking, said Elwin de Groot, head of macro strategy at Rabobank. Over the past few years these risks have undoubtedly affected markets, but hardly with any lasting impact. Yet geopolitics remains important, if only because it could always turn into a more nasty factor for markets at some point.
Emerging
market currencies, such as South Africa’s rand, came under pressure, again reflecting a general burst of nervousness. The dollar leaped more than 1 percent to 14.297 rands.
Olivier Jakob, managing director of oil consultancy Petromatrix, said “the killing of Soleimani calls for a serious increase of the geopolitical risk premium
No comments:
Post a Comment