KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed almost flat on Tuesday as buying interest rotated away from index heavyweights towards smaller-cap construction stocks, with sentiment affected by geopolitical uncertainty, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.39 of a point to 1,714.40 from Monday’s close of 1,714.79. The benchmark index opened 1.65 points lower at 1,713.14 and moved between 1,710.44 and 1,714.50 throughout the trading session. The broader market was almost evenly balanced, with decliners leading gainers 548 to 546, while 598 counters were unchanged, 1,107 were untraded and 25 were suspended. Turnover expanded to 4.13 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion from 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion on Monday.
SELL CALL on UMWOG and and CEASE COVERAGE for Perisai Highlights Oil & Gas - hangover in the rig market? Malaysian rig count at all time low. Rig count in Malaysia dropped to as low as 4 in 2016 compared to 6-10 rigs range seen in 2015, a dismal environment to be operated in for local rig players. The rig count seems to lag the oil price trend based on our observations possibly due to rig demobilization lag and decision making lag by the oil producers. Oil price volatility can’t be ignored. Our study has shown that oil price volatility is in fact a better gauge for predicting rig count levels. The trend is evident in 2009-2011 periods whereby oil prices were rising but with volatility but rig counts were still stalling. Rig count only improved in 2011-2014 time period where oil prices stabilized above USD100/bbl levels. When is the recovery then? Despite improvement in oil prices in 2H16 from low of USD30/bbl earlier this year, ...