Opinion | MGM, Fairwood resume buying as director deals slow

Buying among directors fell for a fourth week while selling rose, based on filings on the Hong Kong stock exchange last week. Eight companies recorded 39 purchases worth HK$5.07 million, against four firms with 20 disposals worth HK$19.4 million.

The purchases were sharply down from the previous week's 73 deals in 17 companies worth HK$92.3 million. On the selling side, the number of trades and value jumped from 12 disposals worth HK$15.96 million.

Buy-back activity also dropped for a fourth week with only four companies that posted 12 repurchases worth HK$3.46 million. The figures were down from six firms, 23 trades and HK$16.6 million.

The bulk of the significant trades were buy-backs in MGM China and Fairwood. The chairman of Stelux also acquired more shares after the stock rose 14 per cent from his purchase price in June, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) acquired more shares of China Telecom after the stock gained 10 per cent.

MGM China resumed buying back after the stock rallied 20 per cent from HK$18.36 in the last week of June with 106,000 shares bought on August 7 at HK$22.05 each. The buy-back was also made after the gaming firm announced on August 6 a 5.83 per cent drop in first-half profit to HK$2.47 billion.

The group previously acquired 715,000 shares from March 1 to June 17 at an average of HK$19.18 each. The acquisitions since March are the company's first buy-backs since the stock was listed in June 2011. The buy-back prices were higher than the initial public offering price of HK$15.34.