KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended higher on Friday as investors continued to accumulate blue-chip stocks in line with stronger performances across most regional markets. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.50 points to 1,724.90 from yesterday’s close of 1,720.40. The benchmark index opened 0.83 of a point higher at 1,721.23, and moved between 1,715.67 and 1,730.12 throughout the day. The broader market was positive with gainers outpacing losers 707 to 402, while 547 counters were unchanged, 1,085 untraded and 56 suspended. Turnover expanded to 3.03 billion units valued at RM3.56 billion from 2.49 billion units valued at RM2.25 billion on Thursday.
The OPEC war against the shale producers are heated up as shale producers look to Wall Street for support. Simply put: Another reason to be bearish on crude prices. Pioneer Natural Resources Co. announced on Tuesday it was tapping investors for $1.4 billion in fresh equity to help finance an increase this year in spending and production in Texas, where wells are still profitable. The share sale shows capital markets are still willing to back the shale industry as crude trades at the lowest in 11 years. The move, if followed by other top shale producers, could lead to a shallower drop in U.S. oil production than currently expected, putting further downward pressure on crude prices. On Tuesday, Brent, the global oil benchmark, fell below $35 a barrel for the first time since 2004. US Oil Production seen slowing down slightly but not enough Based on the chart from Bloomberg, the oil production in US peaked at almost 9.7 million barrels a day in April. Since then, it has ...