Eagle Nice and Xinyi bosses take lead in buying activity
Acquisitions by directors dominate trades while selling remains sluggish for a second week
The pace of buying among directors picked up sharply last week, while selling activity remained low for a second week, filings to the stock exchange show.
The buying figures increased from the previous week's 11 companies with 39 deals worth HK$24.7 million. Sales were down from three firms with five disposals worth HK$1.55 million.
Buy-back activity also rose last week, with six companies reporting 21 repurchases worth HK$14.6 million. The figures were up from three firms with eight trades worth HK$12.2 million.
The bulk of the significant insider trades were purchases, with two directors buying shares in Eagle Nice (International) Holdings. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Xinyi group of companies, Lee Yin-yee, was very active with purchases in Xinyi Solar Holdings and Xinyi Glass Holdings.
Eagle Nice's vice-chairman Chen Hsiao-ying and chairman and chief executive Chung Yuk-sing recorded their first on-market trades in the sportswear and garment manufacturer since August 2008 with a combined 1.97 million shares purchased from August 1 to 13 at an average of HK$1.28 each.
The trades, which accounted for 50 per cent of the stock's trading volume, followed a 16 per cent rebound in the share price since July.
Chen recorded his first acquisitions since his appointment in October 2007 with 772,000 shares purchased from August 8 to 13 at an average of HK$1.31 each. The trades boosted his stake to 5.22 per cent of the issued capital.
Chung bought 1.2 million shares from August 1 to 4 at an average of HK$1.26 each, which increased his holdings to 14.82 per cent.
The stock closed at HK$1.34 on Friday.
At the Xinyi group, Lee resumed buying shares of solar glass manufacturer Xinyi Solar at a higher price, with 33.27 million shares picked up from July 30 to August 13 at an average of HK$2.18 each. The trades increased his holdings to 34.91 per cent.
The acquisitions followed a 17 per cent bounce in the share price since the second half of May.
Shares in Xinyi Solar closed at HK$2.24 on Friday.
Lee also resumed buying shares of car and construction glass manufacturer Xinyi Glass at lower than his acquisition prices earlier this year, with 10.5 million shares bought on August 8 at HK$4.48 each. The trade increased his holdings to 19.84 per cent. It came after a 22 per cent drop in the share price since May 14.
Lee previously acquired 9.3 million shares from May 8 to 12 at an average of HK$5.32 each. From May to June 2012, he bought 9.4 million shares at an average of HK$4.47 each.
Also positive this quarter is Harding Loevner with a purchase-related filing on July 8 of 418,000 shares at HK$4.89 each, which boosted its stake to 6.01 per cent.
The group previously reported an initial filing on February 27 of 8.2 million shares at HK$6.82 each, which raised its interest to 5.08 per cent.
The stock finished at HK$4.86 on Friday.
