Hot Stock Press Metal rises 6.9% after aluminium major Alcoa reports positive results

by **Cals** Wed 14 Jan 2015, 03:31

Hot Stock
Press Metal rises 6.9% after aluminium major Alcoa reports positive results

KUALA LUMPUR (January 13): Press Metal Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard) rose as much as 6.9%, after major aluminium player Alcoa Inc reported higher-than expected quarterly results, together with a positive outlook on global demand for aluminium.
At 11.18am, Press Metal rose 17 sen or 6.9% to a high of RM2.62, with some 2.05 million shares done.
Meanwhile, its warrant stock PMETAL-WC increased 16 sen or 11.0% to RM1.61. Both the mother share and its warrants were among top gainers on the exchange.
Max Koh, analyst for AmResearch Sdn Bhd, had attributed the rise in the share price of Press Metal today to the earnings report by Alcoa.
“Alcoa had released better-than-expected quarterly results, and has given a positive outlook on the global demand for aluminium. This could be the reason behind the rise in Press Metal’s share price,” he said.
Alcoa posted net profit of US$159 million for its fourth quarter, against a loss of US$2.3 billion the year before.
News reports said Alcoa’s chief financial officer, William Oplinger, expected global aluminium prices, including benchmark future prices and regional premiums, to remain stable.
Another analyst with a local research house said stabilising aluminium prices had encouraged investors to support aluminium smelters.
“The price of aluminium has stabilised, after a downtrend over the past month or so, which has encouraged market players to buy shares of aluminium smelters,” the analyst said.
Meanwhile, Bank of America Merill Lynch’s metals strategist, Michael Widmer, was quoted by Reuters as saying that aluminium inventories continued to fall, with LME aluminium stocks down 9,775 tonnes on Monday.
“We expect the aluminium market in world ex-China to remain undersupplied also in 2015, suggesting that prices will remain supported,” Widmer said.
Aluminium closed down 0.4% at US$1,810 a tonne, said Reuters.