KURNIA ASIA BERHAD

(Post date : 9 August 2010)

Kurnia Asia Bhd is a Malaysia-based investment holding company. The company has a wholly owned subsidiary, Kurnia Insurans (Malaysia) Berhad (KIMB) and has a partial interest in other subsidiaries that include PT. Kurnia Insurance Indonesia (KII) and Kurnia Insurance (Thailand) Co. Ltd. (KIT). The company offers its general insurance products and services in Southeast Asia and Malaysia region.

Kurnia Insurance Indonesia, which is engaged in the underwriting of general insurance, and Kurnia Auto Assist Sdn Bhd. The Company and its subsidiaries offer motor insurance, personal accident insurance, engineering insurance, home insurance, fire insurance, medical insurance, travel insurance, bizguard insurance, employee benefits insurance, marine insurance and liability insurance.  The company is principally engaged in underwriting all classes of general insurance business. The company provides a comprehensive range of general insurance products, which include workmen's compensation, personal accident, engineering, medical, fire, marine and motor.

Q:  I have bought Kurasia at the price of RM 0.53, but recently this stock still show no signal of going up. I have been waiting for 3 months, should I still hold this stock or sell it now? Please advise.
A:  From the chart, we can see the price that you bought is about 50% retracement from the highest price since March 2010. It can be consider as quite reasonable price to buy as we never know which is the lowest price. Recent lowest price is about RM 0.46 which is about 61.8% retracement, and after it touched this support line, the stock price rebound to price range between RM 0.48 to RM 0.50. From the chart, you may notice this stock is lack of volume compared to previous year, and it has been in downtrend for quite long period of time. It also show that the stock price is below 200 days average price, there is no strong signal that the stock price will be up soon.

You may hold the stock at this moment, but if the stock price drop to the level of RM 0.46, please reconsider your choice. As this month August, most of the listed company will announce their quarter report, it is estimated most company will not be giving a good figure as been expected by investors. The worldwide market sentiment is also quite weak in general, and we never know when it will drop drastically. So if the stock price is going down and reach RM 0.46 again, and show no sign of going up, you may have to choose to sell it as we never know how much it will drop in future.

Q : I have noticed that this stock has dropped a lot in this year, may I know this stock can be purchased for future investment?
A : Price of stock is NOT the only factor that we need to consider before we buy or sell stock. We need to check the fundamental factor for the stock as well. You may refer to the following balance sheet for five years to check on the company financial condition before you decide to buy or sell this stock. If the company has  a lot of debts and liabilitites, but the performance is not promising in future or growth of the company is at a low rate or reducing rate compared to previous years, it might not be good for long term investors as well.

*All figures in RM'000

Q: Do we need to check on the performance for the other companies which are in the same industry?

A : Normally, we advise the investors to check on the competitors in same industry. From here, we can compared the price of the stock, market capital, EPS (earning per share) and so on. You may refer to the chart below. (It might not be the latest ,please find the latest from internet)