Tsann Kuen's price unchanged on debut
TSANN Kuen (China) Enterprise, the first fully Taiwanese-owned firm to list in China, has ended its opening day on the Shenzhen stock exchange with its B shares unchanged at HK$4.70.
The Xiamen appliance maker's B share debut compares with recent Shenzhen new listings which saw share prices either plunging or stalled on the first day of trade.
Tsann Kuen closed unchanged at $4.70 yesterday, although its issue price was $4.71. Brokers said the difference was due to the fact that only the first decimal place was used in quoting Shenzhen B shares.
The stock hit a high of $5.10 during the day.
It recorded a heavy turnover of $267,000 with 56,000 shares changed hands.
On Tuesday, Shenzhen Gintian Industry recorded no transactions on its first day of B share trade. It remained unchanged yesterday at $10.70.
A broker in Hongkong said Tsann Kuen's debut performance was good, given the present market conditions.
''Buying interest in the stock is quite heavy,'' one broker said.
Tsann Kuen issued 40 million B shares, or 27 per cent of the enlarged share capital, at $4.71, to raise $188.4 million.
Sixty per cent of the shares issued - 24 million shares - were privately placed with institutional investors, some of them Taiwanese.
The remaining 40 per cent - 16 million shares - were publicly offered.
In view of the present B share market, the Shenzhen Securities Exchange and Commission and the Shenzhen stock exchange co-hosted an international seminar on B shares over the weekend.
A Hongkong merchant banker who attended the seminar said bold moves aimed at reviving confidence in the B share market could be expected in the second half of the year.
The seminar, attended by head of the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission Liu Hongru, announced permission to cross-trade in B shares.
Cross-trading is the system whereby buy and sell orders are offset without recording the trade on the exchange.
The merchant banker said the idea of allowing domestic Chinese investors to buy B shares was turned down.
The securities officials believed the suggestion would not solve the root problem of the B share market.
According to a report in the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily on Saturday, the bold moves would embrace the granting of special seats to foreign brokerages for trading Shenzhen B shares and the setting up of central clearing in Shenzhen.
It is understood that the moves aim to activate the secondary B share market.
The Shenzhen stock exchange, in its latest move to boost trade following the switch on Monday to quoting B shares in Hongkong dollars, has set a deadline requiring all listed companies to report their 1993 interim results before the end of August.
The Shenzhen Special Zone Daily said B share company results should be audited according to international accounting standards and published in overseas newspapers.
