KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed higher today, buoyed by supportive local economic policies, positive sentiment from strong technology stocks earnings, and a favourable United States (US) market outlook, an analyst said. Add to that, Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) decision to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 3.0 per cent is poised to encourage domestic spending and investment. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 13.47 points, or 0.83 per cent, to close at its intraday high of 1,634.17, compared to Tuesday’s close of 1,620.70. The benchmark index opened 3.71 points higher at 1,624.41 and subsequently hit a low of 1,623.52 in early trade before trending upwards toward the closing session. Market breadth was positive, with advancers trumping decliners 849 to 352, while 428 counters were unchanged, 765 untraded, and nine suspended. Turnover expanded to 3.39 billion units
Sinopec, the world’s largest refiner by capacity, reported a 52.1% year-on-year decline in net profit for the third quarter, falling to 8.54 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion or RM5.2 billion). The sharp decline in profits was primarily attributed to lower oil prices and weaker refining margins.
The company’s third-quarter revenue dropped 9.8% from the previous year, reaching 790.4 billion yuan, according to a stock market filing on Monday.
While Sinopec struggled with lower earnings, its domestic peer, CNOOC, saw a 9% increase in quarterly profit, amounting to 36.93 billion yuan, driven by higher output that compensated for lower prices.
From January to September, Sinopec processed 190.69 million metric tonnes of crude oil, marking a 1.6% decline year-on-year. The output of refined fuels also fell by 0.8% to 116.6 million tonnes during the same period. Diesel production dropped 10.7%, while gasoline output rose 4.1% and jet fuel production increased 10.5%.
Despite the challenges, refined fuel sales increased 0.6% year-on-year to 181.67 million tonnes in the first nine months, although domestic sales fell 3.2%.
Sinopec’s performance was further impacted by the chemical segment, which reported a net loss of 4.9 billion yuan. The company’s capital expenditure for the first nine months dropped to 86.35 billion yuan, with 50.77 billion yuan allocated to exploration and development, focusing on its pilot shale oil field in Jiyang and oil and gas fields in Xinjiang and Sichuan.
Sinopec’s Hong Kong-listed shares have risen 10.27% year-to-date, underperforming the Hang Seng Index, which increased 20.84% over the same period.
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