SGX RegCo reviewing trades in China Haida, urges caution

THE Singapore Exchange's regulatory arm, SGX RegCo, is urging investors and potential investors to exercise caution when dealing in shares of mainboard-listed China Haida, and is reviewing recent trades in the watchlisted firm's shares, it said in an announcement on Tuesday evening.

SGX RegCo noted that on Dec 16, the on-market volume of China Haida's shares surged to over four million. In comparison, there were only three active trading days in the three months prior, with a total traded volume of 576,000 shares.

Also on Dec 16, the share price more than doubled to close at one Singapore cent, up from the last traded price of 0.4 Singapore cent.

Between then and Jan 6, 2020, both the volume traded and the share price remained high, at an average daily level of around 1.72 million shares and 1.1 Singapore cents respectively.

SGX RegCo said that its review of the trading activity "showed that trades by a small group of market participants accounted for a significant portion of the total volume traded" between Dec 16 and Jan 6.

Noting that China Haida had on Dec 17 released an announcement on the revision to the terms of a rights issue, SGX RegCo said it is reviewing the trades in China Haida's shares "and will take the necessary actions including referring the case to statutory authorities where warranted".

China Haida shares closed unchanged at 1.1 Singapore cents on Tuesday before the announcement.