KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): Shares in Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd (Kenanga IB) have risen to their highest in 19 months, after a jump in trading of Malaysian equity activities since the start of 2024 supported a 13% rally in the counter over the period.

The counter rose as much as 5.53% on Tuesday to hit RM1.05 — its highest since June 2021 — before closing at RM1.03, still up 4.5 sen or 4.57%.

A total of 3.67 million Kenanga IB shares exchanged hands on Tuesday, more than triple the 200-day moving average of 1.33 million shares.

Aside from Kenanga IB, Bursa Malaysia Bhd's share price has similarly risen by 5.35% this year to RM7.28 — its highest since June 2021. The counter closed 0.41% or three sen higher at that price on Tuesday.

An analyst contacted by The Edge believes that the gains had to do with higher trading volume on Bursa, boosted by foreign investors entering the market.

Trading volume across Bursa has picked up in the first two weeks of trading this year, hitting an 18-month high of 6.96 billion shares on Monday, double the one-year average of 3.33 billion shares.

Notably, daily trading volume on Bursa has surged past five billion shares just six times over the past two years.

A report by MIDF Research noted that foreign investors bought a total of RM524.9 million in Malaysian equities in the first week of 2024.

It should be noted that foreign investors were net buyers in five of the last six weeks of 2023. They were net sellers in the final week of 2023.

On Tuesday, the Malaysian equity market’s trading volume retreated slightly, albeit still elevated at 6.44 billion shares at market close, Bloomberg data showed.

For Kenanga IB, just RM5.75 million or 8.5% of its pre-tax profit before elimination of RM67.68 million in the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2023 was attributed to stockbroking activities.

The group’s other operating segments are investment banking, which contributed 13.4% of the group’s pre-tax profit before elimination in the period, alongside listed derivatives (7.59%), money lending and financing (9.48%), investment and wealth management (51.03%), and corporate and others (10.75%).

At RM1.03, Kenanga IB’s market capitalisation stood at RM691.83 million.

Bursa’s last close at RM7.28, meanwhile, valued the exchange operator at RM5.89 billion.

Meanwhile, shares in local stockbroker Mercury Securities Group Bhd, which were listed in September last year, also rose 1.5 sen or 1.96% on Tuesday to hit a new high of 78 sen.

The counter has been climbing since December, although the reason is unclear. At the current price, the counter has gained 212% from its listing price of 25 sen per share.

Similarly, M&A Equity Holdings Bhd shares also touched multi-year highs of 37 sen on Monday, before coming down 1.5 sen or 4.05% to close at 35.5 sen on Tuesday.

At 78 sen, Mercury Securities had a market capitalisation of RM691.83 million.

M&A Equity’s share price of 35.5 sen gave it a market capitalisation of RM711.41 million.