This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on March 12, 2018 – March 18, 2018.

AMONG the super big caps, Hartalega Holdings Bhd was the biggest gainer in terms of share price returns year on year, with its share price more than doubling from RM4.73 on March 9 last year to RM11.02 last Friday. The second biggest gainer was Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd, which was added to the FBM KLCI’s list of component stocks last year. Compared to a year ago, Press Metal’s share price had gone up by 94.1% to RM4.97 last Friday. Top Glove Corp Bhd’s share price also did well in the past year, gaining 85.9% to close at RM9.39 on Friday.

Among the big caps, the company that recorded the highest total returns in a year in terms of share price was ViTrox Corp Bhd. The Penang-based vision inspection system manufacturer saw an almost threefold increase in its share price when it closed at RM5.92 last Friday. Coming in second was Denko Industrial Corp Bhd, whose share price surged from 69 sen last year to RM1.66 on Friday. The plastic injection moulds manufacturer undertook a corporate exercise last year that saw it buy its rival Integrated Manufacturing Solutions Sdn Bhd.

Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd also saw a significant increase in its share price over the past year, rising from RM3.64 to an intraday high of RM19.20 late last year before closing at RM9.57 last Friday.

Big-cap consumer stocks seem to have a stronger footing with investors as well, with MyNews Holdings Bhd, Padini Holdings Bhd and Hai-O Enterprise Bhd all recording significant gains. MyNews’ shares were up 81% at last Friday’s closing price of RM1.71, while Padini’s shares were up 78% to RM5.05 and Hai-O’s shares, 73% to RM5.03.

However, some of the share prices may have run ahead of fundamentals. MyNews and Hai-O charted 12-month earnings per share growth of 18% and 38%. Meanwhile, Padini saw flat earnings growth.

The mid-cap gainers were dominated by semiconductor and electronics players. Pentamaster Corp Bhd saw its share price almost triple to RM2.26 last Friday, JHM Consolidation Bhd’s shares more than doubled to RM1.48 and KESM Industries Bhd saw its share price more than double to RM20.30.

The biggest small-cap gainer was metallurgical coke producer Sino Hua-An International Bhd, which saw its share price surge more than 12 times to 42.5 sen last Friday.
Sourced from : theedgemarkets