Include SingPost and others in any trading probe

News that there may be closer scrutiny of recent trading in the shares of SMRT and ComfortDelgro would be welcomed by many in the market who have been outraged at the way these counters moved before the government’s radical reforms of the transport sector were unveiled last week, reforms which are widely seen as being positive for both companies.

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Guanyu said…
Include SingPost and others in any trading probe

R Sivanithy
29 May 2014

News that there may be closer scrutiny of recent trading in the shares of SMRT and ComfortDelgro would be welcomed by many in the market who have been outraged at the way these counters moved before the government’s radical reforms of the transport sector were unveiled last week, reforms which are widely seen as being positive for both companies.

Both counters started moving weeks ago - in SMRT’s case, by as much as 20 per cent on April 24 when it was queried by Singapore Exchange (SGX) - and remained firm until last week’s announcement.

In the interim, there was widespread speculation of an impending transport sector revamp which, as it turned out, proved accurate. To add to claims of a leak, both stocks jumped again on May 20, the day before the news was issued.

If some parties benefited from advance knowledge of the announcement, as is suggested by the sudden price gains, and if the authorities were to scrutinise the trades before and after May 21, then it is worth pointing out that there are also several other recent developments which merit closer attention, starting with the most obvious - yesterday’s news that Chinese Internet firm Alibaba is buying into SingPost.

SingPost’s first big jump occurred on April 28, when it rose three cents to $1.425 and volume spiked up to 13.8 million shares compared with an average of 3.8 million shares for the week before. A price gain that came with a large surge in volume should have at least drawn an SGX query but this was not the case. In any event, the second big spike came this week, when the counter jumped five cents to a new all-time high of $1.55 on Tuesday in a huge volume of 20.9 million shares.

SingPost called for a trading halt before trading opened yesterday and in the afternoon announced that Alibaba will be buying a 10.35 per cent stake. Clearly, some in the market got wind that a big deal was in the pipeline at least a month ago - why else would there be such concerted buying of a stock that was already, at the time, trading at an all-time high?

It is also worth noting that volume in SingPost has been picking up for more than a week now before culminating in Tuesday’s burst, so buyers appear to have been betting on a big development before yesterday.

Also worthy of mention are two possible takeovers which bear common features. The first involving STATS ChipPAC has been discussed in this column last week (“Why did STATS ChipPAC wait to be queried?” Hock Lock Siew, May 21). The second involves RH PetroGas (RHP), which on May 20 replied to a query from SGX saying that its major shareholders had been approached by an investor who might be interested in taking over the firm.

Like STATS ChipPAC, no other details were given as to who the possible buyer might be or any offer price, and since then no updates have been provided. STATS ChipPAC’s shares have remained active since then but are facing resistance at around 51.5 cents while RHP’s shares have remained active, albeit weakening yesterday.

Finally, while we are on the subject of significant news possibly having leaked, what of one of the biggest takeovers of the year, that of Olam International? Temasek’s takeover may have now expired and the deal consigned to the annals of history, but this does not change the fact that the stock rose almost 40 per cent in the six weeks before the takeover.

SGX has said it did not approach Olam because it found a few analyst reports that called a “buy” on the stock, an explanation which has not gone down well with many in the market. However, query or not, the fact remains that the counter enjoyed a very unusual rise in a short space of time just before a very material announcement. In light of this, some form of regulatory check is warranted to determine whether the news leaked, and if so, who the beneficiaries were.
Guanyu said…
In fact, all incidents involving big price movements before significant announcements must be studied. If there were leaks, appropriate action should be taken and the market duly informed. Only in this way can there be a level playing field for investors to trade with confidence.

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