Khon Kaen rebounds ahead of sugar mill

via CAAI News Media

Monday, 25 January 2010 15:01 Ellie Dyer

Stock Roundup

KHON Kaen Sugar Pcl, which opens a new US$91 million Cambodian sugar mill in Koh Kong today, saw its share prices stabilise at the end of last week after more than 10 days of successive falls on the Thai stock exchange.

On Friday, shares closed at 14.5 baht, marking the third day that stock has hovered around US$0.43. The price marked a slight recovery for the Thai firm, which recently warned that its new Cambodia plant would operate at only a third of capacity, at 2,000 tonnes per day, due to a lack of suitable labour.

On January 4, shares hit 15.4 baht before bottoming out at 14.2 baht on January 19, a fall of 7.79 percent.

NASDAQ-listed Vimplecom, operator of mobile-phone network Beeline, experienced its lowest share price in 2010 on Friday, as the stock slipped 0.83 percent to US$19.03 in New York, a 6.81 fall for the week.

The decline coincides with reports that Russian competition authorities are opposing a bid to merge the assets of Vimplecom with Norwegian company Telenor. The stock had reached a January high of $21.14.

Australian mining company OZ Minerals continued its strong recent performance last week.

The firm, which is currently test-drilling a gold mine in Okvau, Mondulkiri province, released its fourth-quarter report Thursday, revealing a better-than-expected yield from copper and gold deposits in South Australia.

On Friday, its shares responded positively to the news, climbing 3.46 percent A$$1.20 (US$1.08) to leave the stock up 0.42 percent over the past five days' trading.

Property-investment fund JSM Indochina fell last week, following the company’s recent re-listing on the AIM board in London.

JSM fell 3.23 percent at the close Friday, eradicating gains for the week to end flat at $0.60.

Shares in the firm – which focuses on investment in Cambodia and Vietnam – have fallen from $0.67 when the stock began trading again on January 6 following the appointment of a recently nominated advisor.

An internal dispute over the speed of the firm’s investment in the region led to a recent reshuffle at the board level.

Chevron, which is negotiating on a concession for offshore Block A, saw its share price drop 6.14 percent last week after closing down 2.16 percent Friday to $74.59.

The energy giant said last week that it would pull out of certain markets, which it did not name, resulting in layoffs and a reduction in refining capacity.