Opinion | Buying steps up, but heavy sales seen in Hutchison

Insider buying rose last week for the first time in the past five weeks, with 12 companies reporting 58 purchases of their own shares by directors, worth HK$21.1 million based on filings made to the stock exchange for the typhoon-shortened week.

The figures were sharply up from the previous week's five-day totals of eight companies that reported 39 purchases worth HK$5.07 million.

Selling rose for the second straight week, with seven companies reporting 23 disposals worth HK$50 million, a big rise from the previous week's four companies that reported 20 disposals worth HK$19.4 million. The huge spike in the sell value was due to heavy sales in Hutchison Whampoa and VTech worth a combined HK$33.7 million.

Buyback activity by companies themselves surged, with seven companies reporting 16 transactions worth HK$6.3 million, up from the previous week's four company buybacks in 12 trades valued at HK$3.5 million. Among the top buyers last week were Johnson Electric and China Water Affairs.

Independent non-executive director Rose Lee Wai-mun recorded her first trade in blue chip conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa since her appointment in November last year, with the sale of her entire holdings of 150,000 shares on August 8 at HK$91.15 each. But director sentiment in the stock is not entirely negative, since chairman Li Ka-Shing purchased 980,000 shares on April 5 at HK$79.65 each, which increased his holdings to 2.236 billion shares or 52.45 per cent. The blue chip closed at HK$91.70 on Friday.

Executive director and president Pang King-fai recorded his first on-market trades in educational and consumer electronic products manufacturer VTech since December last year, with 174,000 shares sold worth HK$20 million from August 12 to 13 at an average of HK$115.06 each.