Penny stocks in play again

ONE gauge of market activity - or quality if you prefer - is the average value per unit traded. This is obtained by dividing the dollar value by turnover, the resulting number giving an idea of where the market's energies or interests were for the session in question.

For most of the first quarter of 2014 this statistic was well under S$0.50, indicating a preference for lower-priced or penny stocks. In the early part of this year, the figure hovered around S$1, which indicated a shift towards higher-priced issues - a shift that could roughly be interpreted to show a move from low to higher quality issues.

In Monday's session however, dollar volume of S$959 million from unit volume of 1.6 billion yielded an average value of S$0.60 per unit traded, an uncomfortable result for those who were hoping the shift to quality would continue.