Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 3): Shares of rubber glove makers continued to be among the top gainers this week as Malaysians faced a week of rising COVID-19 cases that the Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said could be the beginning of a new wave of infections.

Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd led the climb among the rubber glove players as the third largest gainer by value on Bursa Malaysia this week with an 82 sen or 5.94% gain to close at RM14.62. It was followed by Hartalega Holdings Bhd's 52.2 sen or 3.07% increase to RM17.50; Supermax Corp Bhd's 39 sen or 4.54% rise to RM8.98 and Rubberex Corp (M) Bhd's 27 sen or 4.96% increase to RM5.71.

Though not among the top gainers, Comfort Gloves Bhd and Careplus Group Bhd also saw gains this week, with the former rising one sen or 0.26% to RM3.90 while the latter closed the week up 15 sen or 4.72% to RM3.33.

Indeed, out of the seven rubber glove counters on Bursa, only Top Glove Corp Bhd — the world's largest glove maker — closed the week at a slightly weaker footing than the previous week, after slipping four sen or 0.45% to RM8.76.

Tech stocks also rallied this week, as they mirrored the performance of those over at Wall Street. In fact, five out of top 10 gainers on Bursa this week were linked to the semiconductor sector with Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd leading the pack after climbing RM1.06 or 5.92% to close at RM18.96. It was the second top gainer on the local stock exchange.

Top of the gainers' list, however, was not a rubber glove maker, but flexible plastic packaging (FPP) manufacturer Scientex Bhd, which has continued to rise after reporting two weeks ago that it achieved a record high annual earnings for its financial year ended July 31, 2020. In its results announcement, the group said its FPP products had benefited from supporting the essential food and beverages sectors in Malaysia and the region.

Planters among the top losers

On the other hand, planters crowded the list of top 20 losers this week, filling six slots in all, after news broke that the US had banned imports of palm oil from FGV Holdings Bhd following an investigation into allegations that it used forced labour.

However, the steepest drop among planters was not seen at FGV, but rather at IJM Plantations Bhd, which fell 23 sen or 12.78% to close at RM1.57, and was the 7th top loser of the week. FGV, meanwhile, lost 17 sen or 14.17%, making it the 17th top loser, to settle at RM1.03.  

The top loser of the week was Aeon Credit Service (M) Bhd, which sank 66 sen or 6.11% to RM10.14, after it slashed its interim dividend to 9.2 sen when it announced last week its results for the second quarter ended Aug 31, 2020, from 22.25 sen in the corresponding quarter last year.

MMAG Holdings Bhd, which was the biggest loser last week after declining 42% to 73.5 sen, lost 42.86% more to close this week at 42 sen.

Top active: XOX

The week's trading volume sank 20.34% to 26.36 billion versus 33.09 billion the previous week, as the six-month loan moratorium ended and the penny stock fever subsided. Compared to the 38.44 billion seen in the first week of September, the weekly trading volume has fallen by 31.43%.

The most-active stock was XOX Bhd, which accounted for 1.25 billion shares traded this week. It was also the only counter with over 1 billion shares done in the last five trading days. Second on the actives' list was Kanger International Bhd, with 846.4 million shares done.

With the cooling of the penny stock craze, two-thirds of the 414 counters priced below 50 sen apiece on Bursa settled in the red this week, versus 138 gainers.

Edited ByTan Choe Choe
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