KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd (LCT) shares jumped 8.51% in active trade in the morning session today, after JPMorgan Chase & Co analyst Ajay Mirchandani and Maybank IB Research initiated coverage of LCT yesterday, with a recommendation of overweight and buy respectively.

In addition, four of LCT’s structural warrants are also among the most actively-traded counters this morning.

The stock earlier rose to as high as 11.7% at RM5.25.

At the noon break, LCT rose 40 sen to RM5.10, with a one week trading volume high of 19.81 million shares. It was also the second top gainer Bursa Malaysia. However, LCT is still 21.54% lower, compared with its IPO price of RM6.50.

The stock has gained 19.16% from its recent tumble to RM4.28 on Aug 1, after announcing its quarterly results.

Meanwhile, LCT's Call Warrant B was unchanged at three sen, with a total traded volume 48.78 million. LCT's Call Warrant F was unchanged at 4.5 sen, with a total traded volume 47.26 million.

LCT's Call Warrant E was 2.5 sen higher at 20.5 sen, with a total traded volume 29.04 million. LCT's Call Warrant A was 0.5 sen higher at 4.5 sen, with a total traded volume 27.09 million.

LCT's Call Warrant B, Call Warrant F, Call Warrant E and Call Warrant A has an exercise price of RM7.80, RM6.28, RM5.50 and RM6.80 respectively.

Mirchandani forecasted LCT to trade at RM7 within a year, implying a 61% increase from the last close. The new target is 3.3% below the consensus average of RM7.24. 

Maybank IB Research said in a research report yesterday that LCT is an efficient petrochemical manufacturer, with access to the high growth ASEAN and North Asian regions.

“2017 is a transition year due to scheduled maintenance shutdowns, but production should normalise by 4Q17,” said Maybank IB Research.

LCT had only one buy recommendation before this week. Out of four research houses covering LCT, all has a buy call, with a target price ranging between RM6.88 to RM7.85.