KUALA LUMPUR: Even as shares in designated Harvest Court Industries Bhd dipped 31% back to penny status yesterday, following the resignation of Mohd Nazifuddin Najib — son of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak — from its board, market data showed the recent penny stock party may be winding down.
While Sumatec Resources Bhd, the 10th lower liner to be queried on unusual market activity (UMA) this month, topped yesterday’s most active list after 52% of its share base changed hands, it was the only penny stock among the top five active counters to end with a gain.
Compugates Holdings Bhd, DPS Resources Bhd, MMS Ventures Bhd and SYF Resources Bhd all ended the day between 2.91% and 43.18% lower. SYF and DPS had responded to an UMA query on Nov 14. At yesterday’s 16.5 sen close, DPS is down 47% from its recent high of 31 sen on Nov 14, but is still almost double the 9.5 sen a month ago.
While the total stock value done on the local bourse yesterday still indicated strong trading in penny stocks, the average value of shares traded of 82 sen had been steadily climbing for a fifth straight day after hitting an average low of 52 sen on Nov 15 — incidentally the day after Bursa Securities decided to impose that rare trading restriction on Harvest Court, which the regulator did in May 2006 on Iris Corp Bhd.
Similarly, the number of declining stocks had beaten the number of gainers for a sixth straight market day yesterday, stock market data showed.
Harvest Court lost 43.5 sen to close at its day low of 96.5 sen with 252,700 shares done yesterday. That’s more than half its high of RM2.14 on Nov 14, but still many times the 7.5 sen on Sept 27 before volume surged.
Sumatec, on the other hand, surged 7.5 sen or 36.6% to 28 sen — highest since April this year with over 112 million shares done. It was only at seven sen just a month ago.
Also closing with gains in active trade yesterday were lower liners GPRO Technologies Bhd, Karambunai Corp Bhd and Tricubes Bhd.
It remains to be seen for how long more penny stocks will continue dominating trading volumes.
Prior to this month, the local bourse last saw heavy trading of lower liners from mid-April to mid-June 2009, Bloomberg data showed. Seven stocks received UMA queries in June 2009. They were Measat Global Bhd, Transmile Group Bhd, Compugates Holdings Bhd, SAAG Consolidated Bhd, Equine Capital Bhd, Emico Holdings Bhd and Dataprep Holdings Bhd.
Bernama reported yesterday that Nazifuddin, who is still chairman of Sabah-based real estate developer Sagajuta Group, remains committed to Harvest Court despite his resignation from the board on Monday. He still owns a 2.2% stake in Harvest Court. It was also reported that Sagajuta managing director Datuk Raymond Chan still has 15.7% in Harvest Court.
In an interview published in a local daily yesterday, Chan said he and Nazifuddin would not exit Harvest Court anytime soon but intend to stick around for two to three years “to do genuine business”. He also said they are “comfortable” with their stakes, without committing to keeping their holdings or precluding them to buy or sell down their stakes.
Chan said Nazifuddin will focus on 1Green Enviro Sdn Bhd, while he handles the “many developments” within Sagajuta. He is not getting any government jobs.
“It is all private jobs,” Chan reportedly said.
Describing himself as “a young businessman trying to make a living”, 28-year-old Nazifuddin, who returned to Malaysia two years ago after a stint at a bank in Hong Kong, said he would “think twice about going back to the market” following the attention he received from the short-lived appointment at Harvest Court’s board. Chan reportedly has 30% of Sagajuta (Sabah) Sdn Bhd and Nazifuddin a 10% stake.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, November 23, 2011.
While Sumatec Resources Bhd, the 10th lower liner to be queried on unusual market activity (UMA) this month, topped yesterday’s most active list after 52% of its share base changed hands, it was the only penny stock among the top five active counters to end with a gain.
Compugates Holdings Bhd, DPS Resources Bhd, MMS Ventures Bhd and SYF Resources Bhd all ended the day between 2.91% and 43.18% lower. SYF and DPS had responded to an UMA query on Nov 14. At yesterday’s 16.5 sen close, DPS is down 47% from its recent high of 31 sen on Nov 14, but is still almost double the 9.5 sen a month ago.
While the total stock value done on the local bourse yesterday still indicated strong trading in penny stocks, the average value of shares traded of 82 sen had been steadily climbing for a fifth straight day after hitting an average low of 52 sen on Nov 15 — incidentally the day after Bursa Securities decided to impose that rare trading restriction on Harvest Court, which the regulator did in May 2006 on Iris Corp Bhd.
Similarly, the number of declining stocks had beaten the number of gainers for a sixth straight market day yesterday, stock market data showed.
Harvest Court lost 43.5 sen to close at its day low of 96.5 sen with 252,700 shares done yesterday. That’s more than half its high of RM2.14 on Nov 14, but still many times the 7.5 sen on Sept 27 before volume surged.
Sumatec, on the other hand, surged 7.5 sen or 36.6% to 28 sen — highest since April this year with over 112 million shares done. It was only at seven sen just a month ago.
Also closing with gains in active trade yesterday were lower liners GPRO Technologies Bhd, Karambunai Corp Bhd and Tricubes Bhd.
It remains to be seen for how long more penny stocks will continue dominating trading volumes.
Prior to this month, the local bourse last saw heavy trading of lower liners from mid-April to mid-June 2009, Bloomberg data showed. Seven stocks received UMA queries in June 2009. They were Measat Global Bhd, Transmile Group Bhd, Compugates Holdings Bhd, SAAG Consolidated Bhd, Equine Capital Bhd, Emico Holdings Bhd and Dataprep Holdings Bhd.
Bernama reported yesterday that Nazifuddin, who is still chairman of Sabah-based real estate developer Sagajuta Group, remains committed to Harvest Court despite his resignation from the board on Monday. He still owns a 2.2% stake in Harvest Court. It was also reported that Sagajuta managing director Datuk Raymond Chan still has 15.7% in Harvest Court.
In an interview published in a local daily yesterday, Chan said he and Nazifuddin would not exit Harvest Court anytime soon but intend to stick around for two to three years “to do genuine business”. He also said they are “comfortable” with their stakes, without committing to keeping their holdings or precluding them to buy or sell down their stakes.
Chan said Nazifuddin will focus on 1Green Enviro Sdn Bhd, while he handles the “many developments” within Sagajuta. He is not getting any government jobs.
“It is all private jobs,” Chan reportedly said.
Describing himself as “a young businessman trying to make a living”, 28-year-old Nazifuddin, who returned to Malaysia two years ago after a stint at a bank in Hong Kong, said he would “think twice about going back to the market” following the attention he received from the short-lived appointment at Harvest Court’s board. Chan reportedly has 30% of Sagajuta (Sabah) Sdn Bhd and Nazifuddin a 10% stake.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, November 23, 2011.
