TM, Tenaga & Maybank: These elephants are charging up!

Shortly after the opening of the afternoon session, the top 3 blue chips i.e. TM, Tenaga & Maybank have charged up. In the morning session, TM has already broken above its recent high of RM9.60. At 2.45 p.m., Maybank is at RM11.60 and Tenaga is at RM11.10; both are above their recent highs of RM11.50 & RM11.00, respectively. With the three top blue chips breaking out simultaneously, the market can only go up. The correction that I've spoken about earlier, will have to wait.


Chart 1: Maybank's daily chart as at Nov 29


Chart 2: TM's daily chart as at Nov 29


Chart 3: Tenaga's daily chart as at Nov 29

Ye Chiu Metal has a good quarter & a bullish breakout

Yechiu has a very good quarterly result for QE30/9/2006. Its net profit increased by 108% to RM6.4 mil on the back of a 63%-increase in turnover of RM265.2 mil. For the 9-month ended 30/6/2006, net profit increased by 140% to RM22.6 mil on the back of a 57%-increase in turnover to RM689.9 mil, when compared to the same period last year.

Based on the 9-month’s EPS amounted to 27.64 sen, Yechiu’s full year EPS could be 36.8 sen. Yechiu closed at RM1.33 yesterday; giving a PE of 3.6 times.

Chartwise, the stock has just broken out of its descending triangle at RM1.28 yesterday.



Based on attractive valuation & bullish breakout, Yechiu is a BUY.

Call Warrant updates as at November 29

Call warrants have continued to rise. When you compared call warrants' premium as at today with that of November 24 (last Friday), you would notice that the average premium have increased from 9.7% to 11.3%. Because of the increased premium, call warrants' prices have increased by an average of 8.8% from November 24 while the underlying share prices have declined marginally by 0.2% during the same period (see Table 1 below). I believe that the call warrants' premium is not excessive as we are still in the early days of a bull rally (notwithstanding my earlier post on the possible upcoming correction). I have heard (with disbelief) fellow remisiers forbidding their clients from buying call warrants on the ground that their rise are unsustainable & prompt to failure!



Table 1: Changes in Call warrants' prices, underlying share prices & premium from Nov 24 to 29

I have also posted below the usual Call Warrants update for your easy reference. The cheap call warrants are highlighted in yellow while 2 call warrants that due to expire in January 2007 (i.e. Astro-CA & Scomi-CA), have their expiry dates highlighted in pink. To be fair, I'm not too disturbed by the upcoming expiry of Astro-CA as it is trading within the money. It is Scomi-CA that you must avoid as it is trading outside the money.



Table 2: Call warrants' intrinsic value & premium as at Nov 29

Tong Herr amazes with continued net profit growth

Tong Herr Resources Bhd ('Tongher') is involved in the manufacture & sale of stainless steel fasteners such as nuts, bolts, screws & other threaded items. Yesterday, Tongher announced its results for QE30/9/2006 where its net profit increased by 86.5% q-o-q or 324.7% y-o-y to RM20.7 million. Turnover has increased by 38.3% q-o-q or 94.7% y-o-y to RM88.2 million. The increased turnover is attributable to the commencement of operation of its Thailand-based subsidiary in December 2005. In addition, Tongher's profitability may have benefited from the production of more special and customized items and high-margin product lines.

Due to the sharp rise in net profit, Tongher's EPS for QE30/9/2006 is at 24.39 sen. If this earning can be maintained going forward, Tongher's EPS for full-year could be as high as 97.56 sen. At 3.00 p.m. (November 29), Tingher is trading at RM4.00. At this price, Tongher's PE is about 4.1 times, which is still relative inexpensive.

From the weekly chart below, you can see that Tongher has broken out of its rising wedge at RM3.50 level in October. The next resistance was RM3.90, which was broken today. Tongher could revisit its high of RM4.30 recorded in December 2004.



Based on cheap valuation, I believe Tongher is still attractive investment despite having risen by about 80% in the past 12 months (i.e. from RM2.20 in December 2005 to RM4.00 at 3.00 p.m. today).

CI may correct soon

The last 2 days' market action look almost like a bearish engulfing pattern, according the Japanese candlestick charting. The daily MACD is also poised to do a negative crossover. Having said that, the CI is up 7 points to 1064.23 as at 10.00 a.m. this morning. It is noticeable that the top gainers are devoid of significant volume except for Sime, GHope & Gurthrie; all of which are up on news of a possible merger to form the biggest plantation group in the country.

On weakness, I believe the CI may pull back to test the horizontal support of 1050 & the 10-day SMA of 1045. These levels should be able to hold up the market as it corrects the excess of last Friday & this Monday.

Chart: CI's daily chart as at Nov 28

In view of the above, you may use this morning's improved prices to raise some cash in order to take advantage of any correction that may roll in later.

Maxtral's gradual move may accelerate

Maxtral is involved in the manufacture & sale of veneer, plywood, moulding products & logs trading. It is 85%-owned by Platinum Design (M) Sdn Bhd, which is controlled by Mr. Chen Shou-Ren & Mr. Chen Rong-Chuan from Taiwan. Maxtral's main business is carried on by its 97.5%-owned subsidiary, Kin Yip Wood Industries Sdn Bhd, which is based in Tawau, Sabah.

Maxtral’s last 4 quarters’ net profit amounted to RM14.9 million, which is double that of the preceding 4 quarters. Turnover has increased by 49% from RM130.5 million to RM194.7 million during the same periods. Consequently, its EPS for the last 4 quarters increased by 110% to 7.04 sen from 3.36 sen previously.

Based on yesterday (November 27)’s closing price of RM0.435, Maxtral is now trading at a PE of 6.2 times. That’s not expensive for a timber-related stock given the current timber theme play.

The technical picture for Maxtral is quite attractive. The stock has recently surpassed its April high of RM0.39. With this breakout, the stock may rally upward in line with the other timber stocks.

Based on inexpensive valuation & nice technical set-up, I believe Maxtral is a fairly safe timber stock to invest in.

IJM has surpassed its all-time high

Last Friday, IJM gained 20 sen to close at RM7.15. This means that IJM has surpassed its all-time high of RM7.05, which was recorded in December 1996 & January 1997.

Chart 1: IJM's monthly chart as at Nov 23

Before we proceed further, let’s recap some outstanding significant corporate exercises that may have impact investors’ opinion on IJM. A few weeks ago, IJM has proposed to takeover of Road Builders in a deal which effectively swaps 2 Road Builders shares for 1 IJM new share. In addition, the market is also awaiting the confirmation of IJM’s acquisition of a stake in Kumpulan Euro, with the stumbling block being the finalization of the latter’s concession agreement with the State Government of Selangor regarding the development of the West Coast Highway in exchange for land.

As a technical rule, a stock that has made a new high has the tendency to continue to go higher. As such, IJM could be in for a very interesting time. Having said that, I like to introduce you to another technical rule; one that’s not so well-known. In the book, Trader Vic - Methods of a Wall Street Master, Victor Spenrandeo has made this observation: “In an uptrend, if a higher high is made but fails to carry through, and then prices drop below the previous high, then the trend is apt to reverse." That’s something that we must watch out for in the next few trading days- whether IJM share price may slide back below the RM7.05 level.

The big question is how do you gain entry into this developing play, besides buying into IJM. You can do anyone of the following:

1. Buy Road Builders; or
2. Buy IJM-CA or IJM-CB or IJM-WB.

Buying Road Builders to ride on IJM's rise is relatively safe since the IJM-Road Builders deal, being a friendly deal, is likely to be completed. As the Road Builders share shall be exchanged for IJM share at a ratio of 2:1, you should buy Road Builders at a price not exceeding RM3.55. In fact, you should build in a discount of 3 to 5% to take into account of the risk of the IJM-Road Builders deal may somehow falter.

Buy IJM-CA or IJM-CB or IJM-WB is more straight-forward. These are warrants or options that derive their value from the underlying share i.e. IJM and their value will appreciate as IJM rises. See the Table below.

Here, we have a very strange situation of IJM-WB trading at a discount of 40 sen or 5.6%. This doesn’t seem right. It gives rise to a situation where one can simply buy IJM-WB & exercise the conversion option by paying the exercise price of RM4.80 & thereafter disposing off the share at a profit of RM0.40 [IJM price of RM7.15 less (IJM-WB price of RM1.95 plus exercise price of RM4.80)]. In fact, the volume traded last Friday of 76,245 lots (or, 7.6245 million units) indicates that some investors may have spotted this discount & were buying quite substantially. The question is why are the sellers so willing to sell at a discount? In the past, I have noticed that such anomalies could persist for sometime, say a few days or even a few weeks. The longer this discount persists, the greater is the chance that the share price will correct. This is only natural as demand (for the share) will eventually be fulfilled by unending supply as more shares are created due to the investors’ exercising their warrants (i.e, IJM-WB) for new shares.

So, over the next few days, watch out for IJM share price as well as IJM-WB price. If IJM share price drop below RM7.05 or the discount persist for IJM-WB, you are forewarned that this 'new high' may not sustain.

Yoko may be poised for a bullish move

Tai Kwoong Yokohama (Yoko) is involved in the manufacture & sale of automotive batteries. The group has been badly affected in 2005 by the increased cost of raw material such as lead (which constitutes about 60% of production cost) & plastic resins; which it could not fully pass on to its customers due competitive pressure. In order to improve its bottomline, the group has implemented numerous cost-cutting measures. After 1 year of hard work, the group has started to show very promising result despite the doldrums in the automotive sector as a whole.

Yoko has just reported its results for QE30/9/2006 which shows a net profit of RM2.35 mil, which is a substantial improvement over a net loss of RM4.8 mil recorded in the previous corresponding quarter. Turnover for QE30/9/2006 of RM30.3 mil is 7.8% higher than turnover in QE30/9/2005. Current net profit is however 38.4% lower than the immediate preceding quarter’s net profit of RM3.8 mil. This is attributable to the recognition for the gain on disposal of a subsidiary in France of RM3.1 mil during the last quarter.

EPS for the first 3 quarters amount to 19.23 sen vis-à-vis an EPS of only 0.32 sen for the same periods last year. If we exclude the non-recurring exceptional gain of RM3.1 mil from the disposal of the subsidiary in France, the EPS would be lowered to about 12 sen. Annualizing this, we can arrive at a full year EPS of 16 sen for Yoko. Based on the clsoing price of RM0.555 as at November 24, Yoko is now trading at a PE of about 3.5 times only.

From Chart 1 below, you can see that Yoko may have just broken above its horizontal resistance of RM0.55. This followed the break above its 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) of RM0.48 at the end of October. You may also notice that the 50-day SMA has also crossed above the 200-day SMA. For a chart with a longer time frame, go to Chart 2 below.

Chart 1: Yoko's daily chart from Jan 2005-November 2006



Chart 2: Yoko's daily chart from Jan 2003-November 2006

Based on attractive valuation & potentially bullish technical outlook, Yoko is a stock good for a medium-term trade or for the long haul.

Kesm

KESM is involved in the provision of semiconductor burn-in services, assembly of electronic components & testing of semiconductor integrted circuits. KESM's performance reflects the slow growth in the semiconductor sector, with its latest results showing a small drop in both turnover & net profit when compared to the preceding quarter but nevertheless they are much better than the previous year's corresponding quarter.

Kesm’s net profit for the last 4 quarters has increased by 18.9% to RM14.9 mil when compared to the preceding 4 quarters. This was achieved on the back of a 5.7%-increase in turnover to RM176 mil. EPS has also increased by 15.3% to 34.6 sen. Based on yesterday's closing price of RM1.78, Kesm is trading at a PE of 5.1 times.

Mycron may have a bullish breakout

Mycron is involved in the production of Cold Rolled Coils (CRC). This sector has been badly affected by the sharp drop in the price of CRC due the cheap import from China. In the past few months, the price of CRC has however recovered & Mycron's financial performance has similarly improved (see the Table below).



Mycron has achieved a net profit of RM7.6 million on a turnover of RM84.2 million for QE30/6/2006 (the latest available result). Its EPS fro that quarter amounted to 4.3 sen; giving a full year EPS of 17.2 sen. Based on its closing price of RM0.83 today, Mycron is trading at a PE of only 4.8 times.

The weekly chart (Chart 1) shows that Mycron share price is in a downtrend with a possible breakout at RM0.80. It has tested that level yesterday (Nov 23) but failed to stay above the RM0.80 mark (see the daily chart, Chart 2). Today, Mycron has again broken above this level & closed at RM0.83. If this breakout can hold, the share price may go higher, with horizontal resistances at RM0.85, RM0.95 & RM1.00.

Chart 1: Mycron's weekly chart as at Nov 22


Chart 2: Mycron's daily chart as at Nov 22

Based on relatively cheap valuation & possible bullish breakout, Mycron could be a good trade.

Call warrants show their potency

Today, call warrants had a fantastic day. Amongst the top 20 stocks with the biggest volume, 8 of them are call warrants. Of the top 20 stocks with the highest percentage gain, 7 of them are call warrants. Of the total volume of stocks traded of 1.333 billion, 221 million were contributed by call warrants. The big question now is whether this increase can sustain.

From Table 1 below, I have tabulated the percentage gain of the call warrants vis-a-vis the percentage gain of the mother shares (from yesterday i.e. November 23 to today). You can see that the call warrants had gained 14.34% as compared to a gain of 1.54% for their mother share. That may worry many but if you look carefully you will see that the increase is not unusual. You can see that the average premium of the call warrants had only increased from 9.41% to 9.69%. The only thing that I am concerned with is the huge volume, which may lead to some overhang next week.




Table 1: Comparison of Call Warrants' changes, Mother shares' changes & Call Warrants' premium.

In addition, I have tabulated below the latest list of call warrants' intrinsic value & premium for your perusal. As usual, call warrants with premium below 10% are highlighted in yellow & the two earliest call warrants to expire i.e. Astro-CA & Scomi-CA have their expiry date highlighted in pink.

Bursa-CA is running ahead of its mother share

Chart 1: Bursa-CA's daily chart as at Nov 24


Chart 2: Bursa's daily chart as at Nov 24

Bursa-CA, the call warrant of Bursa Malaysia, has been running up very strong since its breakout above RM0.46 at November 10 (see Chart 1 above). It gained 12 sen to close at RM0.855 at the end of the morning session today. Bursa share price has gained 5 sen to close at RM7.00 at the same time.

During the period of 10 days, Bursa-CA's premium has increased from 2.65% as at November 14 to 11.77% as at the end of this morning session. Is this a sign that something bullish is ahead for the mother share?

If you look at the mother share's chart (see Chart 2 above), you will see that the share has been pressing against the RM7.00 level. A break above this level could be the start of another bullish move that may bring Bursa to its recent high of RM7.65. At the time of writing this post, Bursa is at RM7.05.

RUBhd had a big move

In August, I’ve highlighted that RUBhd has broken above its medium-term downtrend line at the RM1.28/30. Since then, the share has been carrying out a bottoming process with advances capped at RM1.38. On November 14, RUBhd share price made a big move on the upside which effectively cleared the RM1.38 resistance as well as the next horizontal resistance of RM1.50. It stopped just short of the following horizontal resistance of RM1.60. See the weekly & daily charts below.

Chart 1: RUBhd's weekly chart as at Nov 21

Chart 2: RUBhd's daily chart as at Nov 21

The reason for the big price movement was the announcement of its result for QE30/9/2006 where RUBhd’s net profit jumped 77% q-o-q or 99% y-o-y to RM58.5 mil on the back of a turnover of RM157 mil, which represents a gain of 7% q-o-q or 10% y-o-y. With this oversized improvement in net profit, RUBhd’s EPS had also increased to 19.88 sen. If it can maintain this performance, RUBhd’s full year EPS could touch 79.52 sen. The improved performance was attributable to higher margin which flows from the restructuring of the water concessions operation in the State of Johor (see the earlier post). The last 8 quarterly results are tabulated below.

After the big price move mentioned earlier, RUBhd share price has retraced back to RM1.48. Today, it has begun to move up again. The share closed at RM1.56 at the end of the morning session, gaining 6 sen on a volume of 4,276 lots. At this price & assuming a full year EPS of 79.52 sen, RUBhd is trading at a PE of 2.0 times only. Hard to believe…

NSTP is testing its downtrend line at RM2.00

NSTP has been having a bad time for the past 2 years. Its main newspaper, The New Straits Times has fared poorly against its closest rival, The Star as reflected by its declining readership. Its financial performance is no better & the company had undertaken a VSS in QE 31/3/06. Last quarter i.e. QE30/6/06 shows NSTP reporting a net profit of RM5.1 mil on a turnover of RM132.5 mil. See the table below.



The share price also reflects NSTP's fortune. From a high of RM5.10 in Feb 2004, the share price has dropped to a low of RM1.63 in Jun 2006. Since then, the share price has been bottoming out with its rise capped at RM1.84. A recent attempt to break above this level went as high as RM1.91 on Nov 8 before succumbing to selling pressure. This morning, NSTP has again surpassed the RM1.84 level & also breaking above its medium-term downtrend line at RM2.00 level. At the close of the morning session, NSTP was trading at RM2.03. See the daily & weekly charts below.


Chart 1: NSTP's weekly chart as at Nov 21


Chart 2: NSTP's daily chart as at Nov 21

If NSTP can hold above the RM2.00 level, there is a good chance that the share can go higher. An entry at RM2.00 would be relatively safe.

Scicom drifting down to its uptrend line

Scicom is involved mainly in the provision of business process outsourcing services. The financial performance has been improving since its listing in September 2005 with its quarterly turnover almost doubling from RM14.3 mil in QE 30/9/05 to RM27.6 mil in QE 30/9/06. Net profit has more than doubled from RM1.5 mil to RM3.2 mil during the same periods. See the table below.




Scicom's share price has been rising steadily from a recent low of RM0.345 on June 12, 2006 to a high of RM0.665 on October 31. The sharp rise coincided with a 1-for-1 bonus issue that was complated in October. Since then, the share price has been drifting down & it may soon test its uptrend line support at RM0.53 (& rising). This would be a very good level to make your entry into Scicom. See the daily chart below.



Based on a theoretical entry price of RM0.53 & the full year's EPS of 5.04 sen (based on the latest EPS of 1.26 sen for QE 30/9/06), Scicom is trading at a PE of 10.5 times. That's quite attractive for a stock that is enjoying such a strong growth.

Call warrants update as at November 17, 2006

I have updated the list of call warrants below. Included in the list are 2 new call warrants i.e. Malaysia Plantation-CA & K.L.Kepong-CA (highlighted in green). The details of these 2 call warrants are also shown with the subscription price (shown in bold number) substituting the call warrants' current price. The Malaysia Plantation-CA is probably the first call warrant issued which will not be ‘cash-settled’. Instead, it will have settlement by way of delivery of share to the exercising warrant holders. This is not the norm but it is not something totally unfamiliar to Malaysian investors as the existing company-issued warrants are all settled in the same mode. The listing date of Malaysia Plantation-CA will be on Monday (Nov 20) while, for K.L.Kepong-CA, the date has yet to be fixed. It is however likely to be the latter part of next week.

As always, the call warrants with premium less than 10% are highlighted in yellow while the 2 call warrants expiring in Jan 2007 i.e. Astro-CA & Scomi-CA have their expiry date highlighted in pink.

CI's bigger picture

The market has surprised many, even bullish observers like me. From my last post, you could see that I was still concerned that the CI would have a tough time holding above the 1000 mark. Well, the market has proved me wrong but I am not complaining. I am surprised by the slew of revised targets for the CI from all the stockbroking firms. One of the most bullish target was offered by OSK's MD, Mr. Ong Leong Huat, who expects the CI to break its all-time high of 1332.04, recorded on Jan 5, 1994. This is even more bullish that my target made in my post dated October 16, where I have commented that "... a mild rally lasting 5-7 months could put the CI to 1182 level. I dare not extrapolate where the CI would be if we have a super rally instead."

From the monthly chart below, we can see that the CI will be coming up against the 1060 resistance next. Since the market has run up quite sharply in the past few days, I believe that its could be due for a minor correction. One of the possible reasons for this current rally could be the ongoing UMNO assembly but this assembly will be ending this week end. Personally, I do not subscribe to the idea that the current run will end with the completion of the UMNO assembly but, if the market needs a rest, it will use any excuse to do so. And, this market could do with a short rest.



Chart: CI's monthly chart as at Nov 16

Have a nice week end.

Dialog has a bullish breakout

Dialog has just broken above a major horizontal resistance of RM0.66/67. This resistance has been in place since 2000. If this breakout can sustain, Dialog may go to RM0.76 or, even, revisit its all-time high of RM0.85.

Chart: Dialog's monthly chart as at Nov 16

Dialog has an EPS of 3.2 sen for the past 4 quarters. Based on its current price of RM0.675, its PE is at 21 times, hardly cheap even for an oil & gas company.

Based on bullish technical outlook (if the breakout can sustain), Dialog could be a good trading buy. As observed, it is not cheap based on fundamental valuation.

Lingui has a very good QE30/9/2006

Lingui has announced its result for QE30/9/2006. Its topline & bottomline has improved substantially.

Net profit has increased by more than 17-fold y-o-y or more than 3-fold q-o-q to RM86.1 million. This was achieved on the back of a turnover of RM435.5 million, which represents an increase of 41.0% y-o-y or 25.1% q-o-q. The good performance is attributable to better price for logs and plywood as well as higher production volume. In line with the jump in its net profit, Lingui's EPS has increased to 13.1 sen for QE30/9/2006. Based on this, its full-year EPS could be 52.4 sen. See table below.



Based on this estimated EPS & Lingui's closing price of RM1.19 as at yesterday (November 17), Lingui is now trading at a PE of 2.3 times. That's very cheap. And, because this computed PE is so low, there is ample room to absolve any error that may arise in our calculation of Lingui's full-year EPS.

Chartwise, Lingui has broken above its medium-term downtrend in August at RM0.95. Its current up leg may face strong horizontal resistance at RM1.50 & 1.80.


Chart: Lingui's daily chart from Jan 1, 2003 to Nov 16, 2006

Based on the cheap valuation, good sectoral outlook & nice technical picture, I believe Lingui to be a very good investment.

TM has just broken above the strong resistance of RM9.20.

TM has broken above its medium-term downtrend line at RM9.00 on November 7. Thereafter it continued to drift sideway. Besides the downtrend line, TM share price also faces a strong horizontal resistance of RM9.20, which has been in place since June.

At 11.45 a.m. this morning, TM has finally broken above the strong horizontal resistance of RM9.20. At the close of the morning session, TM share price was at RM9.45. With this breakout, I believe that TM is about to commence on its uptrend move. See Chart 1 & 2 below.

Chart 1: TM's weekly chart as at Nov 15

Chart 2: TM's daily chart as at Nov 15

For the traders, you may like to try out TM-CA, the call warrant of TM, with an exercise ratio of 1:1; an exercise price of RM9.21 & expiring on November 18, 2007. At the price of RM0.595 at the close of this morning session (with the mother price of RM9.45), TM-CA is trading at a premium of 3.8% only. Chartwise, TM-CA hasn’t broken above its downtrend line yet, even after this morning’s sharp rise (see Chart 3 below). To achieve a breakout, TM-CA needs to surpass the RM0.65/66 level.

Chart 3: TM-CA's weekly chart as at Nov 15

In conclusion, I believe TM is now a good buy after this morning’s breakout. Even though TM-CA hasn’t broken above its downtrend line yet, I believe it is likely to happen soon. A good entry for TM is probably now. TM-CA is trickier but a gradual entry starting now would be safer (without missing the boat).

Call warrants update as at November 11, 2006

I’ve updated the list of call warrants. See Table 1 below.



Table 1: List of call warrants as at Nov 14

The call warrants have out-performed the broader market by a large margin (see Table 2 below). The percentage gain for call warrants averages about 40.2% vis-a-vis a gain of 5.5% for the mother shares. The average premium has increased from 8.6% to 11.4%.



Table 2: Change in the price of call warrants, shares & premium from Nov 3 to Nov 14

So, those who have invested in call warrants would have made very good return in the current bullish market. As the premium is still low (as compared to 20-30% in a well-recognized bull market), call warrants will still hold an appeal to many, especially those who adopt a more short-term approach in their trading/investing. As always, an instrument that afford leverage exposure will enhance return as well as the accompanying risk. Off hand, a few call warrants that appeal to me are call warrants for Tenaga, Astro and, maybe, Maxis.

Maxis-CA shows the way forward?

Yesterday, Maxis-CA has a very sharp run-up. It gained 18.5 sen to close at RM1.06. In the process, Maxis-CA has broken above two important resistances i.e. the medium-term downtrend line which commenced in w/e Jan 14, 2005 at the RM1.03 level as well as the psychological resistance of RM1.00. With this breakout, Maxis-CA may test the next resistances at RM1.15 & RM1.35. See Chart 1 below.

Chart1: Maxis-CA's weekly as at Nov 14

The mother share has gained 20sen to close at RM9.05, yesterday. It is important that the share should surpass the RM9.05 or 9.10 resistance, which has been in place since November 2005 (see Chart 2 below). Unless this happens, the rise in the price of Maxis-CA is not likely to sustain.

Chart1: Maxis' weekly as at Nov 14

By 11.00 a.m. this morning, the share has broken above the RM9.05/10 resistance to touch RM9.20 while Maxis-CA gained 19 sen to touch RM1.25. For those who are interested to gain entry to Maxis, the level to look out for is RM9.05/10. An exposure via Maxis-CA may be a bit tricky after this current sharp run-up. You may want to see whether it can pull back to resistance-turned-support levels such as RM1.15 or a much safer level RM1.00.

Maxis-CA has an exercise ratio of 1:1; an exercise price of RM8.11 & expiring on November 18, 2007. At the price of RM1.25 at 11.00 a.m. this morning (with the mother price of RM9.20), Maxis-CA is trading at a premium of 1.7% only.

UMW's uptrend may accelerate

UMW has been in an uptrend since its recovery from the Asian financial crisis. Its immediate uptrend line support is at RM7.30. The stock is however tracing out a short-term downtrend line since July 2006. This downtrend line was finally surpassed at the RM7.45 level on November 7. With this breakout, UMW can recommence its uptrend momentum. See the weekly chart, Chart 1 below.

Chart 1: UMW's weekly chart as at Nov 13

The immediate resistance is at RM7.80, which is the high achieved in July 2006. If it can overcome this resistance, it may revisit its all-time high of RM8.70 in February & April 1997. See the monthly chart, Chart 2 below.

Chart 2: UMW's monthly chart as at Nov 13

Astro has broken above the strong horizontal resistance of RM5.10

Astro has broken above its medium-term downtrend in early October at the RM5.10 level. Despite this breakout, the stock has yet to commence its uptrend move as the RM5.10 level has acted as the resistance that stopped further advances in the stock (until yesterday). Below RM5.10, the stock has been making higher 'lows' & thus formed a short-term uptrend line, with support currently at RM4.90. As noted, Astro has finally broken above this RM5.10 horizontal resistance yesterday & closed at RM5.20. This could be the beginning of the anticipated uptrend for this stock. See the Chart 1 & 2 below.


Chart 1: Astro's daily chart from Jan 1, 2006 to Nov 13, 2006





















Chart 2: Astro's daily chart from Jan 1, 2005 to Nov 13, 2006

For those who favor a trading approach, you may like to try out Astro-CA, which is a call warrant with exercise ratio of 2:1 & exercise price of RM4.65 but expiring on January 29, 2007. At the closing price of RM0.275 yesterday, Astro-CA is trading at its intrinsic value only, without any premium. This very attractive valuation could be due to its short tenor remaining but nevertheless this is a very good exposure to a semi-blue chip that has just achieved a bullish breakout.


Chart 3: Astro-CA's daily chart from Jun 1, 2006 to Nov 13, 2006

Based on the above, I believe Astro would make a good medium-term investment. Astro-CA would give a higher relative return but accompanied with higher risk.