DAH Sing Financial Holdings saw its price dive yesterday to a year's low of $20.05 because of a bout of speculative selling caused by the placement news. Dah Sing yesterday said Mitsui Trust and Banking Company reduced its stake in Dah Sing to 13.49 per cent from 15.71 per cent and Sumitomo Life cut its shareholding to 2.69 per cent from 7.85 per cent through placements with institutional and other investors. The shares were placed at $19.65 each. Dah Sing plunged 3.14 per cent to close 65 cents lower at $20.05. The counter was the day's heaviest traded stock both in volume and turnover amounting to $336.57 million with 17.12 million shares changing hands. Property counter South Sea Development was the best performer with its price recorded the biggest percentage jump. The counter notched up 17.24 per cent to close 10 cents higher at 68 cents. Analysts said investors started to buy the shares at what they saw as a low price. South Sea was the focus of attention recently as its ex-chairman Yu Pun-hoi was found to have committed offences in Canada. Last Thursday, Mr Yu resigned as chairman of Ming Pao and South Sea. Telecommunication stock Champion Technology also gained significantly with the price edging up 8.42 per cent to $2.575. Analysts said the counter was 'highly speculative' but had 'good fundamentals'. Recently, Champion Technology successfully transformed itself from a pager manufacturer into a network operator. Buoyed by Hongkong Telecom's $2 billion deal in telecommunication network in China, Champion Technology was tipped to be one of the candidates to 'gain a share' in the coming mainland telecommunication projects, analysts said. Floppy disk maker Benelux International was a big loser recently, with the counter falling 3.78 per cent to a record low of 76 cents yesterday. Analysts said Benelux faced intense competition in the floppy disk industry which narrowed the company's profit margins. Investors had recently also been switching interest from industrial stock to blue chips.
