KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 3): Bursa Malaysia has issued an unusual market activity (UMA) query to CI Holdings Bhd on the sharp rise in its share price over the past one week.

CI Holdings (fundamental: 1.85; valuation: 0.3), a manufacturer of edible oils, taps, and sanitary ware, saw its share price rose to an intraday high of RM2.10 today from the stock's closing price of RM1.12 last Tuesday (Feb 24).

"We draw your attention to the recent rise in price of your company’s shares (trading activity)," bourse operator and regulator Bursa Malaysia told CI Holdings today.

Bursa Malaysia told CI Holdings to disclose whether there was any unannounced corporate activity, rumour or report that could have prompted the anomalous share-trade pattern.

CI Holdings had yet to respond to Bursa Malaysia's UMA query at the time of writing.

CI Holdings began to spike noticeably last Thursday (Feb 26) when it closed 24 sen or 21.05% higher at RM1.38.
 
Today, CI Holdings gained 12 sen or 6.35% at 12:30pm afternoon break to settle at RM2.01
for a market capitalisation of RM325.6 million. About 1.5 million shares changed hands.

CI Holdings shares had gained 105% this year, significantly outperforming the FBM KLCI's 3% rise.

It is interesting to note that CI Holdings chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Abdul Aziz had bought more shares in the company before the renewed interest in the counter.

On Feb 12 and 13 this year, Abdul Ghani bought a total of 100,000 shares at between RM1.09 and RM1.10 apiece, according to CI Holdings' announcement to the exchange.

Following the purchase, he holds 260,000 shares or 0.16% in CI Holdings.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)