The daily turnover in China Construction Bank’s (CCB) Hong Kong-listed shares soared to 18.2 billion on Wednesday, prompting speculation that some buyers of Bank of America’s (BoA) US$7.3 billion sell-down flipped their holdings for a profit, the Financial Times reported. Trading volume, excluding the BoA sell-down, was 11 times higher than normal. It was suggested that some investors held CCB shares for less than 24 hours. These investors had bought some of the 13.5 billion shares that BoA, which is struggling to meet capital requirements back home, sold to a group of predominantly mainland investors via a private placement at HK$4.20 (US$0.54) each. This represented a discount of more than 14% to Monday night’s closing price. The Hang Seng Index closed down 0.55% at 17,059.62 points. The Shanghai Composite Index, buoyed by robust retail sales figures, closed up 1.7% at 2,663.77, its highest level in nine months.
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