Hatten Land unaware of reason for unusual volume; share price up 10.2%

CATALIST-LISTED Hatten Land is not aware of reasons for the unusual volume of movements in its shares on Tuesday, the property developer said in response to a query from the Singapore Exchange RegCo earlier in the day.

At 4.55pm, the bourse regulator issued a query to Hatten on the volume movements in its shares. The stock saw heavy trading on Tuesday, with 10.8 million shares changing hands that drove its share price up 10.2 per cent.

Notably, the counter opened at S$0.045, sharply down from Monday's closing price of S$0.059. Some 1.07 million shares were traded around the market open.

Through Tuesday morning, the share price rose 30 per cent to S$0.052 as of 11.14am. The price then cooled, but trading volume picked up again from about 3.50pm. This drove the share price up to close at S$0.065.

In its response at 6.02pm, Hatten said that it was unaware of any information not previously announced, including those that may be material and price-sensitive, that would explain the intense trading.

The firm was also unaware of any other possible explanations for the trading activity, and confirmed its compliance with listing rules.

Hatten's prior announcement on Nov 24 was an update that its subsidiary MDSA Resources had been granted an extension of a restraining order by the High Court in Malacca, Malaysia.

Hatten had announced the strategic restructuring of MDSA back in July to "restructure its legacy contractual obligations to achieve a more sustainable capital structure". In September, the property developer said that MDSA will issue RM15.7 million (S$5.1 million) worth of 6 per cent notes due Sept 24, 2021.