KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 29): Pentamaster Corp Bhd succumbed to heavy selling this morning, no thanks to news that the semiconductor firm has been excluded from the syariah-compliant list.

Trading volume swell to 65 million, making it the most actively traded stock at this trading hour.

At 10.16am, Pentamaster fell 7.04% or 33 sen to RM4.36 for a market capitalisation of RM2.07 billion. The stock had earlier fallen to a low of RM3.74.

The stock opened gap down below RM4-level against its yesterday's closing of RM4.69.

Its exclusion from the shahriah-compliant list will result in selling by institutional funds which have the mandate to invest in syariah-compliant only stocks.

That said, Penang-based Pentamaster is one of the star performers this year. It share price has rallied to an all-time high of RM4.81. The stock has more than doubled year to date.

According to Bloomberg data, there are two analyst calls on the stock, with add and neutral ratings and target prices ranging from RM4.72 to RM5.40.

Pentamaster saw its net profit grow to RM21.48 million or 4.52 sen per share in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2019, from RM17.11 million or 3.6 sen per share a year ago.

Quarterly revenue was up 15.08% at RM124.63 million, versus RM108.3 million previously, according to the group’s filing with the local stock exchange.