KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 30): Parkson Holdings Bhd, which has fallen to a nine-year low recently, staged a rebound due to investors' strong buying interest.

Shares in Parkson rose as much as 10 sen or 8.93% to RM 1.22 in morning trades.

At 12.05pm, Parkson was up 9 sen or 8.04% to RM1.21 with 5.4 million shares done.

Parkson had fallen to a nine-year low of 99.5 sen on Sept 2. Year-to-date, the counter lost 45.69%, significantly underperforming the FBM KLCI's 8.42% decline.

Alliance Investment Bank Bhd remisier Raymond Foo said that the recent rise in share price could be due to substantial shareholders buying back shares.

He said the group's financial performance was dragged by the slowdown in China and its operation in Malaysia was also affected by the implementation of goods and services tax (GST) on April 1.

"Perhaps the investors' confidence was boosted by the recent shares acquisition by substantial shareholders," Foo said.

Parkson's chairman and largest shareholder Tan Sri William Cheng Heng Jem has been accumulating shares in the company since August, via Amsteel Mills Sdn Bhd. He currently indirectly own 59.86% equity in the company.

In a technical note today, Kenanga Research said that the technical chart suggests strong buying interest in the stock.

The research firm said Parkson's share price rose for three days consecutively to settle at RM1.12 yesterday. This upward move reversed the six-month downtrend, backed by sharp rise in trading volume.

"Hence, should there be further buying interest, we reckon that the share price could push towards RM1.17 in the near term, while an immediate support level is seen at RM0.99," it said.

(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.)