Opinion | Fall in share prices triggers buying spree by directors
CLP among stocks that recorded heavy purchases in a week of active trade
Directors were active during the holiday-shortened week of December 31 to January 4 with 158 transactions worth HK$323 million. The figures were up from the previous week's three-day totals of 149 trades worth HK$213.9 million.
The bulk of the significant trades were purchases last week. Four stocks that recorded heavy insider purchases are CLP, Mexan, China Lilang and Pearl Oriental Oil as the sharp fall in their stock prices prompted directors to buy shares for the first time since listing or following a long lay-off.
Non-executive chairman Michael Kadoorie and non-executive director Ronald McAulay recorded rare acquisitions in blue-chip utility firm CLP with a combined 4.3 million shares purchased from December 21 to 31 at an average of HK$64.62 each.
The trades, which accounted for 21 per cent of the stock's trading volume, were made on the back of the 14 per cent drop in the share price since September 2011 from HK$74.95. Despite the fall in the share price, the counter is still up since October 2008 from HK$42.85.
Kadoorie recorded his first on-market trades based on filings in the exchange since 1993 with 2.5 million shares purchased during the period at an average of HK$64.66 each, which increased his holdings to 18.19 per cent of the issued capital.