KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 30): The selling wave on Bursa Malaysia-listed counters affected by the recent margin calls resumed on Tuesday after pausing over the last two trading days, led by declines in Rapid Synergy Bhd and YNH Property Bhd.

The worst-hit counters on Bursa so far this year were also among the most active in the morning session, including Widad Group Bhd, YNH Property and Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd (SCIB).

At Tuesday’s noon break, Rapid Synergy, the third biggest loser on Bursa, continued to spiral to a 14-year low, with its share price down 44 sen or 25.3% to RM1.30. It also recorded an intra-day low of RM1.27, down 47 sen or 27% from its previous close of RM1.74.

The counter, which hit limit down several times since Jan 10, pared losses at RM1.33 later at market close, still down 41 sen or 23.6%. It saw a total trading volume of 13.7 million shares, which was four times higher than its two-month average.

Meanwhile, YNH Property emerged as among the counters with the highest turnover where RM85.1 million worth of shares exchanged hands at market close. It was also among the top losers with its share price down 16 sen or 18.9% to 68.5 sen on Tuesday, from Monday’s close of 84.5 sen.  

At 68.5 sen, the group is valued at RM362 million. Its year-to-date share price was down 83.88%.

The sell-off in YNH Property’s share price came following its plan to sell the 163 Retail Park, a shopping mall in Mont'Kiara, to Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (Sunway REIT) for RM215 million cash.

Other active counters include Widad (down one sen or 6.45% to 14.5 sen) and SCIB (down 4.5 sen or 11% to 36.5 sen), effectively erasing gains seen in the last five trading days.

As many as 11 counters hit limit down in recent weeks amid the small-cap sell-off, about half of which have lost at least 50% in value as a result.

Tuesday’s decline is also seen in the other affected small-cap counters, including Imaspro Corp Bhd (down eight sen or 5.6% to RM1.35), Silver Ridge Holdings Bhd (down 4.5 sen or 12.9% to 30.5 sen), Artroniq Bhd (down 2.5 sen or 7.69% to 30 sen), Mercury Securities Group Bhd (down a sen or 2.4% to 41 sen), and Mestron Holdings Bhd (down half a sen or 1.56% to 31.5 sen).

The losses tracked the 0.7% decline in the FBM ACE Index. Meanwhile, the FBM Small Cap Index was down by 0.83% at market close, while the KLCI was similarly down 0.17%.