Ekovest in spotlight on IWCity cue

KUALA LUMPUR (May 16): Ekovest Bhd fell as much as five sen or 4% on profit taking today after the construction and property group's shares rose yesterday on bargain hunting.

In recent days, the stock had fallen after Malaysian Government-owned TRX City Sdn Bhd alleged that its planned sale of a 60% stake in Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd to IWH CREC Sdn Bhd was "null and void with immediate effect".

The Government via the Finance Ministry owns TRX, a former unit under 1MDB. The Government also owns 100% of 1MDB. Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Sdn Bhd and China Railway Engineering Corp (M) Sdn Bhd jointly own IWH CREC.

Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo owns a stake in Iskandar Waterfront Holdings. Lim is a common shareholder in Iskandar Waterfront City Bhd (IWCity) and Ekovest.

Today, Ekovest shares fell to their lowest so far at RM1.29. At 10:06am, the stock was traded at RM1.32 with some 26 million shares traded. The stock was Bursa Malaysia's fifth most-active stock.

At 10:41am, Ekovest shares were traded at RM1.34 as the stock took the cue from IWCity shares, the most-active on Bursa Malaysia. IWCity, which rose 18 sen to RM2.31, saw some 118 million shares transacted.

Yesterday, Ekovest shares rose 12 sen to RM1.34 from RM1.22 on Friday (May 12). On May 2, the stock closed at RM1.46.

Today, TA Securities Holdings Bhd wrote in a note that from a technical viewpoint and based on Ekovest shares' latest closing price, the stock's 14-day relative strength index (RSI) stood at 52.22 while the 30-day moving average was at RM1.35.

"(On the RSI) A reading below 30 is considered oversold, above 70 is overbought. A rise above 50 with a corresponding share price surge above the 30-day moving average should be taken as a bullish move with good short-term upside potential," TA said.

Ekovest's latest annual report shows that Lim has direct and indirect stakes of 20.19% and 12.19% respectively in the company as at Oct 7, 2016.

IWCity's annual report indicates that Lim owns an indirect 38.345% stake in the company as at March 31, 2017. — theedgemarkets.com

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