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Uni-Asia's 52% price jump prompts SGX query
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| Lee Su Shyan |
Wed, Dec 05, 2007
The Straits Times
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THE share price of Uni-Asia Finance rocketed 52 per cent yesterday, after having caused a great deal of investor grief when it plunged sharply last month.
The jump earned Uni-Asia a query from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) just after the market closed yesterday. Later in the evening, the Hong Kong-based financing firm sought a trading halt from 9am today pending an announcement.
Its share price has been on a roller-coaster ride since the firm's listing in August, but in recent weeks, the counter has taken a breather.
Yesterday's dizzying share price rise quickly captured investors' attention again.
| The shares closed at $1.19 yesterday, up from Monday's close of 78.5 cents. The volume transacted, 41.7 million shares, was about seven times the average daily volume over the past month.
The sudden spike in Uni-Asia's share price prompted a query from the SGX. The company's request for a halt pending an announcement came after the query.
Some investors were upset over the timing of the query, since it came after the market closed. One said that it should have come while trading was taking place, especially as the counter had risen quickly in the morning session.
When investors saw the stock moving, they would have been encouraged to join in the fray. A posting on the Shareinvestor.com forum page expressed concern about the risk of 'the uncles' and aunties' hard-earned money' being lost.
As early as lunchtime, the share price had already run up to more than 90 cents.
The share price spurted even more steeply after lunch, with the counter soaring to as high as $1.20, before ending at $1.19, its highest close since Nov 13.
Yesterday's activity is deja vu for Uni-Asia, which arranges financing of transport-related assets.
The company was twice queried by SGX in October for its heavy trading volume but had said that it knew of no reason for the activity.
Prior to yesterday's run-up, The Straits Times had asked the SGX whether merely querying the company would be effective in managing such swings.
In reply, SGX's head of risk management and regulation, Ms Yeo Lian Sim, said the very act of querying listed companies cautions the market of unusual movements in share price or trading volume.
An earlier run-up in Uni-Asia to an all-time high of $2.50 in October and its subsequent plunge resulted in a group of angry investors turning up at SGX's office to call for an investigation into the stock's volatile price swings.
The punters were unhappy that various broking houses had slapped trading curbs on the counter, which led to a steep drop in the share price. It is believed that brokerages such as UOB Kay Hian have recently lifted their trading curbs, which means that the counter is probably back in play again.
sushyan@sph.com.sg
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