KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 30): Shares of Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd (LCTitan) fell as much as 22 sen or 15.07% to RM1.24 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, prompting Bursa Securities to suspend the counter’s intraday short selling (IDSS) for the rest of the day.
The stock, which was the sixth top loser on Bursa Malaysia, recovered to RM1.25 at 3.30pm, but was still down by 21 sen or 14.38%. Earlier, the stock opened lower at RM1.36, compared to the previous day’s closing price of RM1.46.
Some 8.015 million shares changed hands as of 4.30pm, about nine times compared to its 200-day average trading volume of 880,855 shares.
At RM1.25, the counter is valued at RM2.89 billion. Over the past one year, the stock has fallen 21%.
In a filing, Bursa said IDSS for LCTitan will resume at 8.30am on Wednesday.
“Please be informed that short selling under IDSS for stock LCTITAN (5284) has been suspended for the rest of the day as the last done price of the approved securities dropped more than 15%/15 sen from the reference price,” it added.
LCTitan succumbed to selling pressure after the group ended its FY2023 with its annual net loss widened to RM780.29 million, from RM731.06 million in the preceding financial year, as it suffered a 23.68% drop in revenue to RM7.65 billion during the year.
“The weaker performance was mainly due to a decline in margin spreads, and share of loss from Lotte Chemical USA Corp, but partially offset by reversal of inventory writedown to its net realisable value,” LCTitan said in a statement on Monday.
For the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2023 (4QFY2023), however, net loss almost halved to RM186.48 million or 8.19 sen per share, from RM333.64 million or 14.65 sen per share a year ago.
The improved performance was despite a 10.26% decline in quarterly revenue to RM1.86 billion, from RM2.07 billion, which LCTitan attributed to lower sales volumes, amid slower economic activities in the region.