KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 19): The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and Bursa Malaysia Bhd said they are closely monitoring the recent market conditions amid the heightened volatility in certain stocks.
The regulator and the stock exchange operator said the recent significant decline in share prices is limited to a few small-cap stocks and not widespread, according to a joint statement on Friday.
“The affected stocks constituted around 0.17% of the total market capitalisation and 8.30% of total traded value for the year,” it said, adding that the stock market fundamentals remain “intact”.
“The SC and Bursa Malaysia assure investors that the Malaysian stock market fundamentals remain strong and there should not be any cause for concern,” it noted.
Nonetheless, investors are advised to make informed investment decisions and continue to refer to disclosures and announcements, as well as unusual market activity (UMA) queries and responses on the local bourse platform.
“The SC and Bursa Malaysia conduct proactive surveillance of corporate transactions and disclosures, as well as real-time monitoring of all trading activities to ensure an efficient, fair and orderly market,” it added.
They also stressed that they will not hesitate to take the necessary regulatory actions where irregularities are detected.
In the last two weeks, at least 13 companies saw shares plunge and had either hit limit-downs, drew unusual market activity (UMA) queries from the bourse regulator, or triggered the freezing of their intra-day short-selling (IDSS). These companies have lost a total of over RM7 billion in market capitalisation since the start of the year up until Thursday (Jan 18).
The biggest losers were Rapid Synergy Bhd, YNH Property Bhd and Imaspro Bhd, which were all linked to investor Datuk Dr Yu Kuan Chon.
Meanwhile, other companies are Widad Group Bhd, Leform Bhd, Artroniq Bhd, Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd (SCIB), Mercury Securities Group Bhd, Imaspro Corp Bhd, Jentayu Sustainables Bhd, Tanco Holdings Bhd, Mestron Holdings Bhd, Silver Ridge Holdings Bhd and APB Resources Bhd.
On Friday, Heitech Padu Bhd joined the list of affected counters as its shares hit limit down before recovering some losses, but was still down 22 sen or 20% at noon market break.
Read also:
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