This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 21, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Blue chips like Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, and Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd closed at record highs yesterday following the Chinese New Year holidays as heavy institutional buying rang the tills.

“Investors are anticipating better earnings results that are due this week,” said Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president Vincent Lau.

“Some of the big-cap stocks have been doing well for the longest time. Investors expect a good performance in their results. We can see that most of the stocks are benefiting from net foreign buying,” he told The Edge Financial Daily.

Yesterday’s top gainer, Nestle, rose RM1.10 or 0.91% to RM121.50 after 84,400 shares were done for a market capitalisation of RM28.49 billion. On the same day, the group announced a record high fourth-quarter net profit for the three months ended Dec 31, 2017 (4QFY17) of RM133.54 million, double the RM66.94 million it reported last year. It also posted its highest annual net profit of RM645.80 million for FY17, up 1.36% from RM637.13 million in FY16.

Dutch Lady, meanwhile, settled eight sen or 0.12% higher at RM64.90 after 10,200 shares were traded, valuing the company at RM4.15 billion. Public Bank closed at RM22.08 after rising 10 sen or 0.46%, with 4.42 million shares transacted, for a market capitalisation of RM85.26 billion.

Also closing at a record high was Hong Leong Industries Bhd, after having risen 70 sen or 6.67% to RM11.20, for a market capitalisation of RM3.58 billion. It saw 223,100 shares done.

SJ Securities Sdn Bhd senior remisier Goh Kay Chong said after the equities market fall some two weeks ago, retail investors too are of the opinion that blue chips are safer.

“They feel that it will be well-supported by funds, so they reshuffle their portfolio and buy blue chips,” Lau said.

Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd, which has been hitting new highs after it announced a strong fourth quarter earnings last week together with a new dividend policy, climbed 20 sen or 1.12% to a new record high of RM18 after 117,100 shares were exchanged, valuing it at RM5.54 billion.

Among other blue chips that rose were Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Bhd and Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd (MPI).

Ajinomoto grew 20 sen or 0.97% to RM20.80 after 34,000 shares were traded for a market capitalisation of RM1.27 billion. MPI, meanwhile, climbed 55 sen or 6.12% to RM9.53 after 562,200 shares were exchanged, valuing the company at RM1.9 billion.