Manhattan Card managing director Stephen Chu Siu-tsun is playing down fears of a brewing credit-card battle as shares in the card issuer rose after recent falls.
Shares in the firm which is 53.9 per cent owned by Chase Manhattan Corp and 20 per cent by Citic Pacific, lost about 20 per cent in three days this week, sparked by potential interest rate cutting among card issuers and rumours that Citic Pacific might sell its stake.
Yesterday however the shares regained some composure, despite the sharp drop in the Hang Seng index. They closed almost 2 per cent, or $0.075 higher at $4.05.
'It is not unusual to see a rebound after the sharp retreat in the last couple of days,' an analyst said.
He said however that trading in the company would be under pressure in the near term if competition in the credit card market escalated.
On Tuesday American Express (Amex) launched a below-market-interest rate credit card, offering an interest rate of 18 per cent.