Bursa Malaysia’s biggest gainers and decliners

GE14 momentum fizzles out following persistent foreign selling

THE increased market volatility and bloodbath post-14th general election (GE14) have been a nightmare for Malaysian equities.

Pakatan Harapan’s victory heralded a new change both for local politics and the corporate sector going by the promised reforms and push for more transparency.

Following that historic day of May 9, the momentum that had been building up on Bursa Malaysia fizzled out due to persistent foreign selling pending more clarity on the new government’s fiscal measures.

As at year-to-date end November, foreign net outflow totalled RM10.73bil, almost wiping out the entire net inflow of RM10.82bil in 2017.

The market’s main barometer, FMBKLCI, fell by 166.6 points or 9% to settle at 1679.9 points on Nov 30 – the cutoff for this research on Bursa Malaysia’s Top 50 gainers and losers post-election.

The year had actually started on a good footing and rose to a high of 1,896.03 on April 20 – just 0.2 points away from all-time high recorded in July 2014, due to sustained recovery in crude oil prices, strengthening of the ringgit, inflows of foreign funds and anticipation of a pre-election rally.

Externally, the US-China trade tensions heightened volatility in financial markets, while the recent oil price’s free-fall stirred a déjà vu of the oil price rout in 2014.

The research covered the top 300 companies which collectively had a value of RM1.62 trillion covering 95% of the total Bursa Malaysia market value.

Out of these 300 companies, 70% or 209 companies had recorded losses in market cap post GE14. This brought the total net loss in market cap at a staggering RM152.3bil or a 8.6% decline over that period.

We then extracted the Top 50 stocks that recorded the biggest increase and decline, both in absolute amount and percentage terms.

During that six-month period of review, the net loss in market value of the Top 50 was RM120.6bil or a decline of 8.8% following the GE.

Meanwhile, Hartalega recorded a RM1.8bil or 9.2% increase in market value to RM21.3bil on the back of strong earnings delivery.

Petronas’ another subsidiary, Petronas Gas Bhd, also made it to the top 10 market value gainers’ list.

The market capitalisation of the retailer and marketer of downstream oil and gas products rose by RM2.33bil or 6.6% in the May 8-Nov 30 period to RM37.48bil.

The top 50 gainers’ list is not only about large-cap counters.

It is interesting to note that several small- and mid-cap stock preGE14 have recorded massive increase in market value in the past seven months.

From only a market capitalisation of RM186mil on May 8, Dufu Technology Corp Bhd witnessed a market value increase of almost 247% or RM458.85mil to RM644.85mil.

The manufacturer of precision machining components completed its bonus issue of up to 87,735,185 new ordinary shares on the basis of one bonus share for every two existing shares on Nov 30.

Besides Dufu, Supercomnet Technologies Bhd (Scomnet) is another small-cap stock that saw its market value rising by RM228.27mil or 104.4% to RM446.89mil as of Nov 30.

Scomnet, which makes high-tech wires and cables, has recorded strong earnings growth in its latest two quarters.

In the second quarter ended June 30, the company saw its bottom line surging by over nine times, while in the third quarter ended Sept 30, earnings jumped by over five times to RM4.94mil.