KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 28): DKSH Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd's share price rose past the RM5 level mark for the first time since February 2017 on Tuesday after a research house said the counter was set to resume its uptrend.

The counter opened higher and rose as much as 6.65% or 33 sen to RM5.29 — its highest since Nov 24, 2016. However, it later closed in the red at RM4.77, down 19 sen or 3.83% from Monday's close, after 1.97 million shares were done.

The stock was still up 11.18% compared with last Friday. Year-to-date, the counter has risen 40.7% from RM3.39 on Dec 31, 2020.

At its current price, DKSH Holdings — which operates retail outlets selling the Famous Amos cookie — has a market capitalisation of RM752.03 million.

RHB Retail Research technical analyst Al Emri Izzat Shah Albakri said in a note on Tuesday that DKSH is set to resume its uptrend as it bounces off the 21-day average line to breach the immediate resistance of RM4.78.

"The buying pressure above that level is expected to propel the stock towards the next resistance point of RM5.35, followed by the RM6.00 threshold. However, this expectation will be cancelled if it falls below the support of RM3.82," he said.

DKSH's net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021 increased by more than three-fold to RM25.4 million, from RM7.83 million a year ago. Quarterly revenue expanded to RM1.78 billion from RM1.45 billion.

Cumulative first-half net profit jumped 175.86% to RM49.48 million, from RM17.94 million in the January-June period last year, underpinned by unrealised derivative gains from interest rate swap and decline in interest expenses resulting from reduced borrowings.

Six-month revenue rose 11.46% to RM3.54 billion from RM3.17 billion.