9 stocks with momentum at Bursa Malaysia's

Highlighted 19 stocks with momentum at Bursa Malaysia's afternoon close today. One stock showed positive momentum while 18 stocks displayed negative momentum.

The stock with positive momentum was:

Ralco Corp Bhd – up 21 sen at RM1.13

The stocks with negative momentum were:

Bertam Alliance Bhd – up two sen at 16 sen

Cabnet Holdings Bhd – up one sen at 25 sen

Chin Hin Group Property Bhd – up two sen at 88 sen

Cuscapi Bhd – up four sen at 25 sen

Eastland Equity Bhd – up one sen at 14 sen

Fima Corp Bhd – unchanged at RM1.78

Key Asic Bhd – up half a sen at 11 sen

Kia Lim Bhd – up 1.5 sen at 37 sen

KYM Holdings Bhd – up half a sen at 40 sen

Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd – up 24 sen at RM2.73

Pelikan International Corp Bhd – up 1.5 sen at 38 sen

Pelangi Publishing Group Bhd – up half a sen at 39 sen

Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd – up three sen at 41 sen

Sapura Industrial Bhd – up 13 sen at 99 sen

Sarawak Cable Bhd – up four sen at 48.5 sen

Scope Industries Bhd – up 1.5 sen at 32.5 sen

Sealink International Bhd – up one sen at 18 sen

Widetech (Malaysia) Bhd – up 37 sen at RM1.62

The list of stocks with momentum is generated using a proprietary mathematical algorithm highlighting stocks with a build-up in trading volume and price. The algorithm differentiates between stocks that exhibit positive (+ve) momentum and negative (-ve) momentum.

This list is not a buy or sell recommendation. It merely tells you which stocks are seeing higher than normal volume and price movements.

The share price may move up or down from this point. But the "+ve" (suggesting a rising price trend on volume) and "-ve" (suggesting a falling price trend on volume) indicators should give readers a better idea of what the market is buying and when to sell. Note also that momentum generally only persists for a short period of time.

However, each stock has an accompanying fundamental score and valuation score to help readers evaluate the attractiveness of the stocks, if they want to ride the momentum.

Top Glove to vaccinate all staff once Covid-19 vaccine made available

Top Glove Corporation Bhd has pledged to vaccinate all its staff, including foreign workers, once the COVID-19 vaccine is made available.

Executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai said this is to ensure uninterrupted production for the long-run besides making sure the good physical and mental health of its employees in order to achieve good financial health of the company.

"We are still waiting for the vaccine from the government and we will be more than happy to get our staff vaccinated as we have over 21,000 employees at 47 factories and 750 production lines as at December 2020,” he said in a virtual courtesy call with High Commissioner of Bangladesh Golam Sarwar and Labour Counsellor of Nepal Embassy Deepak Dhakal, today.

Lim said to enhance the foreign workers' welfare, the company has continuously invested in better accommodation at its facilities in Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan, and Johor for its mid-term plan with a capital expenditure of RM195 million.

"We are building and purchasing new workers’ hostels, fully equipped with facilities and amenities that are expected to be completed by 2023,” he said.

Besides that, he said the company is targeting to become a Fortune Global 500 company by 2030 with its growth to be 10 times bigger, achieving US$30 billion sales revenue and scaling up to 150 factories with 100,000 employees.

"This long-term plan could be achieved through technology and innovation, research and development, as well as artificial and human intelligence, supported by 10,000 global talents, researchers and young university graduates,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sarwar hopes Top Glove would continue to ensure the health and wellbeing of its employees, particularly foreign workers, and ensure that they are protected and vaccinated, especially during the unprecedented time of COVID-19 pandemic.

Top Glove’s net profit surged over 20 times to RM2.38 billion in the first quarter of financial year 2021 ended Nov 30, 2020 (Q1FY21) from RM111.43 million in Q1FY20.

The glove giant was previously embroiled in issues relating to workers’ wellbeing and non-compliance with the Workers' Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446).

The company also made headlines after it became Malaysia’s biggest COVID-19 cluster, the Teratai Cluster.

At 3 pm, shares of Top Glove rose 0.45 per cent to RM6.67. - Bernama

AirAsia's digital platform eyes more airline partnerships

Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Group’s travel, e-commerce and fintech unit airasia.com is in partnership talks with several Middle Eastern and European airlines, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Airasia.com CEO Karen Chan said the company was working on selling more flights on the online platform.

"Apart from just selling AirAsia flight tickets, we are now selling any airline's flights tickets. We are now in serious discussions with quite a few full-service carriers," Chan said at a CAPA — Centre for Aviation event.

She said the company was working closely with Middle Eastern airlines to drive traffic to pilgrimage destinations.

"Religious travel has taken a huge delay, and already we are getting a lot of requests from customers for pilgrimages," she said.

Airasia.com was also in talks with some European airlines, she said. "Once international borders are open, all of us are banking on pent-up demand," she said without providing details.

Last November, airasia.com announced a strategic partnership with Turkish Airlines for cross-promotion of its flight inventory with AirAsia flights, and offered travel itineraries with discounted fares.

"Now we can pull their content and inventory onto airasia.com's platform," Chan said. The company offers more than 15 lines of products online and via its super-app "to fly, to stay, to shop, to eat", an earlier media statement showed.

With the airline business taking a hit from the coronavirus pandemic, AirAsia Group last year rebranded its digital arm as AirAsia Digital, which houses airasia.com.

Malaysia's flagship budget airline AirAsia Group said last September it is considering raising capital to expand its digital business.

FBM KLCI charges ahead, up 15 points

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Gains from index-linked counters propelled the FBM KLCI to close higher alongside with the positive sentiment across the regional market on Wednesday.

At 5pm, the 30-stock index rose 15.58 points or 0.95% to 1,647.50 after opening 0.63 of-a-point lower at 1,631.55 this morning.

The market traded within a range of 25.06 points between an intra-day high of 1,652.59 and a low of 1,627.53 during the session.

Market breadth turned positive as gainers overpowered the losers on a ratio of 841-to-355 stocks. Traded volumes stood at 6.3 billion shares valued at RM3.41bil.

KLCI-component stocks were overwhelmingly in the positive, with 22 gainers, four decliners and four counters unchanged.

Dealers said sentiment was supported also by firmer key regional markets and local bourse was playing catching up after the recent bout of weakness.

Among the gainers, Heng Yuan rose 69 sen to RM5.69, KPower added 61 sen to RM6.55, Carlsberg gained 56 sen and Greatech advanced 52 sen to RM9.20.

KESM was the top loser on Bursa Malaysia, shedding 98 sen to RM12.30. F&N fell 94 sen to RM31.54, Petronas Gas declined 18 sen to RM17.30 and Supermax lost 13 sen to RM6.92.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was quoted at 4.0630, down 0.05% against the US dollar. The local currency was up 0.18% against the euro at 4.9528. It also declined 0.02% against the pound sterling at 5.4541 and down 0.18% against the Singapore dollar at 3.0475.

Brent crude futures fell 17 cents, or 0.34%, to US$49.91 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slid 18 cents, or 0.38%, to US$46.84 a barrel.

Asia benchmark finished mostly higher today with Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose 0.33% to 26,524.79.

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi rose 26.14 points, or 0.96%, to 2,759.82, the sharpest daily gain since Dec 9, Reuters reported.

China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 0.76% at 3,382.32, while the blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.85%.

Reuters reported that China's central bank will scale back support for the economy in 2021 and cool credit growth, but fears of derailing a recovery from a pandemic-induced slump and debt defaults are likely to prevent it from tightening any time soon, policy sources said.

Latitude Tree, Metronic, My EG, Dutch Lady, Affin Bank, Eco World, Eco World International, VS Industry, Scientex, LKL International and Perak Corp

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 17): Based on corporate announcements and news flow today, companies that may be in focus on Friday (Dec 18) include: Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd, Metronic Global Bhd, My EG Services Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Affin Bank Bhd, Eco World Development Group Bhd, Eco World International Bhd, VS Industry Bhd, Scientex Bhd, LKL International Bhd and Perak Corp Bhd.

Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd has proposed a one-for-one bonus issue of up to 97.16 million new shares plus an employees’ share scheme (ESS) of up to 10% of the total issued share capital of the company.

The furniture maker said the actual number of bonus shares to be issued will depend on the total issued shares on the entitlement date, which will be determined and announced at a later date upon receipt of all relevant approvals. It said the ESS is for eligible directors and employees of the company and its subsidiaries.

Its board of directors expects the proposals to be completed by the second quarter of 2021.

Metronic Global Bhd plans to raise up to RM33.94 million — almost a quarter of its current market capitalisation of RM141.52 million — through a private placement of up to 373.74 million shares or 30% of its issued shares, mainly to fund its existing and future engineering projects. The issue price of the new shares and the third-party investors will be decided at a later date, the company said.

The bulk of the proceeds, or RM32.65 million, will be used for existing and future engineering projects. Its engineering project order book stood at RM112.82 million at the latest practicable date, according to the filing to Bursa Malaysia.

My EG Services Bhd (MyEG) has cancelled 100 million of its treasury shares. The group’s total number of treasury shares held after the resale or transfer stood at 53.66 million. Its adjusted issued capital after the cancellation is 3.67 billion shares.

Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd said it will invest RM340 million to construct new manufacturing facilities on three parcels of land in Bandar Enstek, Negeri Sembilan that it bought this year. The group said the facilities will include manufacturing and warehousing facilities, support facilities and office facilities. They will be used for the manufacturing of the group's dairy products with capacity and space for the manufacturing of other variations that it may produce.

The facilities will be constructed between 2021 and 2025, the group said, adding that it will use internal funds for the investment.

Affin Bank Bhd has confirmed that two more of its employees at its headquarters have tested positive for Covid-19 and they are now undergoing treatment.

The bank said it will be providing the employees and their families with the necessary support and guidance while all other staff in Menara Affin who had immediate contact with the affected staff will be screened and tested for Covid-19.

It did not say that the headquarters will be closed but clarified that the affected office space as well as common areas such as elevators and toilets are being cleaned and disinfected accordingly, adding that disinfection will also be carried out in the entire building.

Eco World Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld) and its 27%-owned associate Eco World International Bhd (EWI) have set a combined sales target of RM5 billion for the financial year ending Oct 31, 2021 (FY21).

For financial results, EcoWorld said its net profit fell 18.41% to RM66.45 million for the fourth quarter ended Oct 31, 2020 (4QFY20) from RM81.46 million a year ago. Revenue declined 30% to RM635.47 million from RM906.54 million. The group attributed the lower profit for FY20 mainly to closures of sales galleries during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, the temporary cessation of site activities from mid-March to mid-June, and the cumulative impact of inventories written down in 3QFY20 and 4QFY20.

EcoWorld declared a maiden interim dividend of two sen per share.

Meanwhile, EWI saw its net profit plunge 85.25% to RM17.44 million for 4QFY20 from a year ago, even though revenue jumped to RM57.38 million from RM254,000. The weaker performance in FY20, it said, was due to a lower share of results of joint ventures (JVs) and the commencement of accounting impairment of goodwill.

VS Industry Bhd’s net profit climbed 38.7% to RM66.68 million for the first quarter ended Oct 31, 2020 (1QFY21) from RM48.07 million a year ago, mainly due to a favourable product sales mix for its Malaysian operations. This was despite a 4.6% drop in revenue to RM987.1 million from RM1.03 billion, due to lower contribution from its China business.

On a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis, its net profit rose 23.2% from RM54.12 million for 4QFY20, while revenue grew 11.84% from RM882.61 million. The group declared a first interim dividend of 1.2 sen per share, which will be paid on March 5, 2021.

Packaging materials manufacturer Scientex Bhd’s net profit grew 14.3% year-on-year to RM92.53 million in the first quarter ended Oct 31, 2020 (1QFY21), from RM80.96 million in the same quarter last year, as its packaging division reported higher earnings.

The improved bottom line came despite an 8.6% decline in revenue to RM802.26 million from RM877.37 million. The group did not declare any dividend for the quarter.

LKL International Bhd is buying two pieces of freehold industrial land in Seri Kembangan for RM12 million or RM556 per sq ft. The lands, measuring a combined built-up area of 21,600 sq ft or 0.49 acres, also comes with two units of three-storey semi-detached factory erected on top.

The group’s wholly-owned subsidiary LKL Advance Metaltech Sdn Bhd inked the sale and purchase agreement today for the acquisition of the land from Positive Frontier Sdn Bhd, a private limited company engaged in property investment and development. It is wholly-owned by SE Commerce Sdn Bhd.

LKL said the acquisition will be funded via the proceeds it raised from the private placement announced on July 17, which raised a total of RM45.45 million.

Perak Corp Bhd has announced a debt restructuring with its creditors involving cash settlements worth over RM220 million, issuance of its shares worth over RM30 million, proposing a debt waiver amounting to RM544.55 million, and future settlements by the group's turnaround plan in the ordinary course of business.

The company is selling off four pieces of land to the Social Security Organization (Socso) for a total of RM78.68 million to settle part of its debts. It added that the debt settlement is part of efforts towards the formalisation of the group’s regularisation plan to uplift itself from its Practice Note 17 (PN17) status.  

A sum of RM70.81 million of the sale proceeds will be used for repayment of bank borrowings, and the other RM7.87 million will go for working capital requirements. The "scheme creditors" involved in Perak Corp's debt settlement scheme include Affin Islamic Bank Bhd, CIMB Bank Bhd, Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd, Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd and Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd.  

Separately, it has been slapped with an unusual market activity (UMA) query by the stock exchange over the sharp rise in its share price and volume today. The group is engaged in property and investment holding, real property development and provision of management services.

Electricity demand dips, renewable energy gains momentum

The fallout from Covid-19 has a significant impact on electricity consumption trends in Malaysia as movement restrictions have led to sudden change in socioeconomic habits.

At the peak of the pandemic, only essential industries were allowed to operate, some at only 50% capacity, while the rest of the industries were either shutdown or adapted to remote working practice.

It had resulted in a sudden decline in energy demand, especially in commercial and industrial usage.

Despite a surge in household consumption of electricity, it was not enough to fill the drop in commercial and industrial usage as the economy was only operating at 45% of its capacity during the seven-week movement control order (MCO) period.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) had said during the MCO, electricity usage in the industrial and commercial sectors dropped between 25% and 50% as businesses and industries halted activities, while usage in the residential sector surged between 20% and 50% as families stayed indoors and employees worked from home.

It expected the electricity consumption to drop between 6% and 10% year-on-year in 2020, mainly due to slowing activities in the commercial sector.

The forecast is within the range of 5%-10% of global electricity demand fall predicted by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

This has also impacted the demand for coal, oil and gas.

According to the IEA, renewable was the only source that posted a growth in demand, driven by larger installed capacity and priority dispatch.

“Electricity demand is unlikely to return to normal levels even after the development of a coronavirus vaccine, ” according to a report by scientists from Columbia University.

TNB feels the pinch

Its nine months net profit declined to RM2.38bil from RM3.88bil from the same period last year. Revenue for the cumulative months ended Sept 30,2020 also slipped to RM33.65bil from RM38.76bil previously.

It serves 9.2 million accounts, of which 7.4 million accounts are residential while the remaining are the commercial sector.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, TNB said the increase in demand from the residential segment was unable to fill the decline in commercial and industrial usage as both contributed close to 80% the sales in Peninsular Malaysia.

It also reported that the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting the progress of the group’s initiatives to reduce its current exposure; including the restructuring and turnaround exercise and sale of investment, particularly in its 30% owned companies in GAMA (Turkey) and GMR (India).

However, the group’s UK assets are insulated by the long-term subsidy scheme.

Going forward, it will leverage its existing UK assets and market experience to build up a sizeable renewable energy portfolio by 2021 through acquisitions of both operating assets and development of green field projects.

Incentives

As lockdown measures and its subsequent impact led to unemployment and job losses, the government introduced various incentives under economic stimulus packages such as electricity discount to 7.5 million residential users and other affected sectors and flexi payment plan.

On the regular six-month Imbalance Cost Pass-Through surcharge, TNB confirmed the adjustment was to zero from two sen/kWh for both domestic and non-domestic electricity users, from July 1 to Dec 31,2020.

This is due to a reduction in actual fuel cost for the period of January-June 2020 compared with the previous six-month period (July-December 2019).

Shifting to renewable energy

The government has introduced several initiatives such as the enhanced net energy metering programme (NEM) and solar leasing to boost renewable energy (RE) uptake.

Banks have offered solar power financial packages with lower interest and it will help Malaysia achieve the 20% RE efficiency target by 2025.

Participation from big companies such as Taliworks Corp Bhd, Malakoff Corp Bhd and Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd, and International Paper Sdn Bhd will help Malaysia achieve the target faster.

Other companies that seem to support the RE industry were FGV Holdings Bhd and Malakoff Corp Bhd’s unit, Southern Biogas Sdn Bhd, each installing a biogas power plant in Pahang and Johor, respectively.

Mah Sing Plastics Industries Sdn Bhd and AT Glove Engineering Sdn Bhd, each installing solar photovoltaic projects in smart factories in Klang and a manufacturing factory in Perak, respectively.

Meanwhile, the government decision to provide more incentives under Budget 2021 will boost the RE industry growth.

Among the initiatives are the first Sustainability Bond for environmental and social initiatives and RM2bil under the green technology financing scheme.

The Sustainable Energy Development Authority has estimated that some 4.1 million buildings in Malaysia might still accommodate solar panels, and collectively generate about 24-gigawatt peak of electricity.

According to the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, RE capacity is expected to reach 12 gigawatt to 13 gigawatt grid installed capacity by 2030. — Bernama

• Translate
 
• View Original Article