Pearl Oriental shares plunge 15pc after chairman Wong Yuk-kwan goes missing
Disappearance of Wong Yuk-kwan, who is facing fraud charges locally, leads to frenetic trading
The disappearance of a company chairman while on bail sent shares in scandal-wracked Pearl Oriental Oil plunging almost 15 per cent yesterday, providing a measure of drama in an otherwise sedate trading day.
Granted permission by Hong Kong authorities to travel to Taiwan for medical reasons, Wong Yuk-kwan was last seen being pushed into a car on Sunday, Taiwanese media reported, raising fears he might have been kidnapped.
Pearl Oriental "has been unable to contact or reach" its chairman, and "is trying to understand and ascertain the situation", the firm announced in an exchange filing.
Wong had been due to face fraud charges in Hong Kong's high court related to the purchase of a US$225 million oilfield in Utah, in the United States. Two businesswomen connected to the deal were jailed earlier this year.
Frenetic trading at volumes nine times the firm's 30-day average helped drive shares in Pearl Oriental down 14.95 per cent to 18.2 Hong Kong cents, a notch above their one-year low.
Trading on the rest of the market was more subdued. At HK$70.9 billion, yesterday's Hong Kong market turnover was 25 per cent below last month's daily average. In mainland markets, Shanghai turnover was 213.16 billion yuan (HK$258.37 billion), the lowest in six months, while Shenzhen's turnover was also weak at 319.56 billion yuan.