Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 26): Rubber glove counters returned to the top gainers list this week, following a little rebound after a period of corrections, led by Hartalega Holdings Bhd, which gained 20% over the week to close at RM17 yesterday.

The other three big rubber glove players, namely Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd (up 14%), Supermax Corp Bhd (up 13%) and Top Glove Corp Bhd (up 10%) were also among the top 20 gainers. Also on the list was Careplus Group Bhd (up 12%). Each of these counters saw total weekly trading volumes in the tens of millions.

Top Glove's closing price of RM8.80 translated into a market capitalisation of RM71.55 billion, just about RM8 billion below the RM79.59 billion market cap of the most valuable stock on the local stock exchange, Malayan Banking Bhd.

News of ongoing vaccine trials appear to have had little impact on the prices of these glove makers' shares, as mounting concerns over the continued rising Covid-19 cases around the world revived interest in these counters.

The week was capped off by news that the Employees Provident Fund has been on a shopping spree for glove stocks. After emerging as a substantial shareholder of Top Glove last week with a 5.06% stake, it bumped up its shareholding to 5.1% this week. It has also raised its stake in Kossan to 8.09%, since emerging as a substantial shareholder of the company in June.

Overall, however, two smaller-cap counters — Advance Synergy Bhd and Esthetics International Group Bhd — topped the gainers list for the week, with Hartalega coming in only as the third-biggest gainer.

Advance Synergy gained 35% to 17.5 sen, giving it a market cap of RM162.61 million, with 1.26 billion shares exchanged over the past five trading days, making it the most active counter of the week. In fact, the total number of Advance Synergy shares traded this week exceeded its share base of 929 million shares by 35%.

Kanger International Bhd was the second-most active stock of the week, with total trades of 1.04 billion shares — more than half of its 1.83 billion issued shares.

On Tuesday, the company announced that it had entered into a proxy agreement with Shenzhen Public Health Technology Co Ltd (SZPHT) to secure the rights to distribute a China-developed Covid-19 vaccine in Southeast Asia. Under the deal, Kanger appointed SZPHT to procure dealership status from China National Biotec Group Co Ltd, which is a subsidiary of China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp.

The news, however, was not positively reflected by its share-price performance, as Kanger dropped 26.7% to close at 22 sen, giving it a market cap of RM99.66 million.

Another company that announced a vaccine-related deal — Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd — was also among the top actives. It saw 795.8 million shares traded over the week, as the stock gained 10.2% to close at 70.5 sen with a market cap of RM202.8 million, amid news that it had inked a licensing agreement with US-based Generex Biotechnology Corp for Covid-19 vaccine compounds in Malaysia.

Another notable active was Metronic Global Bhd, with 812.5 million shares exchanged — about 65% of its share base. On Thursday, the engineering company announced that Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew had ceased to be its substantial shareholder after the property tycoon sold 123.5 million shares that were equivalent to a 9.9% stake in the company. This came after Lee sold 180 million shares on Monday.

On the other hand, three companies increased their stakes in Metronic, namely M N C Wireless Bhd (acquired 10.3 million shares), Cita Realiti Sdn Bhd (acquired 16.3 million shares) and Sanichi Technology Bhd (acquired 92.35 million shares).

The losers list this week was topped by MMAG Holdings Bhd, which saw a 42% drop in share price from a week ago to 73.5 sen. On Wednesday, the company announced the departure of its managing director Wong Eng Su, effective that same day, to pursue other career opportunities.

Pasukhas Group Bhd was also among the top decliners, as its shares sank 29% over the week to close at 7.5 sen apiece, despite announcing a partnership with BB Energy Sdn Bhd to extract river sand for the export market.

BB Energy, it said, had secured a concession and temporary occupational licence for Sungai Miang, Mukim Pekan, Pahang, from Pengurusan Pasir Pahang Bhd. Under the agreement, Pasukhas' wholly-owned subsidiary Pasukhas Products Sdn Bhd will get the exclusive rights to access, extract, dredge, sell and distribute river sand from Pekan for a year, with the option to extend for another year.

Edited ByTan Choe Choe
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