Opinion | Insider buys spring back, sales up for two straight sessions
Sino Land and Henderson Land's Lee Shau-kee among those snapping up shares in their firms
Insider buying rebounded sharply last week and insider selling was up for a second straight trading session, based on filings made to the stock exchange for the last week of August.
A total of 31 companies reported 176 purchases worth HK$140 million, versus 14 firms that reported 73 disposals worth HK$244.7 million. The figures were sharply up from the previous week's 17 companies that posted 78 purchases valued at HK$37.1 million; and five companies that made 17 disposals valued at HK$14.9 million.
Buybacks by companies also rose, with 22 companies disclosing a total of 83 repurchases worth HK$81.26 million. The numbers were up from the previous week's 13 companies that reported 65 repurchases, though the value was slightly down from the previous week's HK$92.6 million in buybacks.
Property developer Sino Land resumed buying its own shares after the announcement of first-half results on August 28, with 240,000 shares bought on August 30 at HK$12.69 each. The group posted a 19.52 per cent drop in first-half profit to HK$4.3 billion.
The purchase also came after the stock rebounded by 24 per cent from HK$10.26 on June 4.
The stock closed at HK$12.70 on Friday.
Chairman Lee Shau-kee acquired more shares in property developer Henderson Land Development at higher than his acquisition prices earlier this year, buying 881,000 shares from August 23 to 28 at an average of HK$48.66 each. The trades increased his holdings to 1.5027 billion shares, or 62.58 per cent of the issued capital.