'Stealth' crashes in penny stocks just as damaging to confidence

NINETEEN months after the penny stock collapse there are disturbing signs that history is being repeated, albeit in a not-so-spectacular fashion.

Instead of jaw-dropping 90 per cent losses in one day as was witnessed back in October 2013, in recent weeks there have been "stealth" crashes in low-priced issues such as Civmec, Sinjia Land and CosmoSteel.

The two episodes may be separated by a period of almost two years but they share one thing in common - there are simply too many questions which, if left unanswered, can only undermine already-shaky confidence.