MONEY MASTER

  Stock Performance: Kossan Rubber Industries' stock surged to a near four-month high, closing at RM2.33, up 2.19% after declaring a special dividend. The intra-day high of RM2.38 marked a 4.4% increase, the highest since July 30. Market capitalization stood at RM5.96 billion, with 11.37 million shares traded. Special Dividend Details: The company announced a dividend of 8 sen per share, including a 6-sen special dividend, seen as a one-time payout ahead of Malaysia’s upcoming 2% dividend tax in 2025. Analyst Outlook: Analysts are bullish on Kossan, with 12 out of 18 research houses maintaining "buy" calls. Kenanga Investment Bank expects gradual improvement in oversupply issues by 2026, aided by production capacity reductions. Hong Leong Investment Bank raised its FY2024 earnings forecast for Kossan by 8%, citing strong sales volume, higher ASPs, and a stronger US dollar. Market Context: January-September profits accounted for only 60% of consensus full-year forecasts, y...

Maintain our Outperform call with an unchanged target price (TP) of RM8.50 Our recent meeting with Kossan’s management reaffirmed our belief that Group’s expansion plans and operational improvements are on track.  We believe our Outperform recommendation for Kossan will be supported by i) continuous improvements in productivity and efficiencies through R&D initiatives, reflected through its growing margins over the years (from 7.6% in 1QFY12 to 12.4% in 1QFY16 - Figure 1), ii) diverse product range, and iii) most of the additional capacities for new products contribute by FY18 onwards. Widening product mix . Under immense competition, Kossan continues to improve their products to differentiate themselves. For instance, they introduced and patented its latest “accelerator free” nitrile glove, which minimizes latex protein and chemical allergies. We are also positive on other new innovative offerings which are expected to be launched by end-2016. Continuou...

The market is behaving like a yo-yo and today, we have a better side of things. It’s an uptrend and we’re looking at a jump for FBM KLCI by 0.27% or 4.56 points to 1,690.91. FBM KLCI closed higher as oil rebound There is still no clear signal of breaking the 1,700 mark but things have been slightly more positive now. Across Bursa Malaysia, we saw 1.72 billion shares traded worth RM1.81 billion. There are 441 winners compared to the 355 losers while another 353 is unchanged. Regionally, things are also looking better except for the volatile China. The positive sentiment was mainly driven by the rebound of crude oil price and the expectation of policy easing by the European Central Bank (ECB) later in the day. In Bursa, the top gainer is Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd while leading the decliners was British American Tobacco (M) Bhd. The warrants of AirAsia X and RedSena dominated the top active counters.