Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has asked Bursa Malaysia and the Securities Commission to take action against those who appear to be manipulating the stock market with unfounded political rumours.
In a statement today, the PKR president said he was aware that several listed stocks on Bursa Malaysia had seen “extraordinarily active trading and gains recently on the basis that the counters are linked to me”.
He stressed that he was in no way connected to those stocks, which were likely experiencing brisk trade due to speculation that he could be the next prime minister.
“I want to stress that I have no financial interests whatsoever in these stocks.”
”I want to take this opportunity to remind all investors to invest carefully and not to invest in rumours,”
“It is an unfortunate reflection of the state of our economy that such rumours can move markets,” he said in a brief statement.
Anwar’s statement comes on the eve of his audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, where he is expected to provide proof of the “strong, convincing” majority of MPs said to be backing him in his bid to unseat the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
On September 23, Anwar announced that he had enough support in the Dewan Rakyat, effectively ending the PN administration led by Muhyiddin.
However, Anwar did not divulge the number of MPs or who they were, instead stating that the the Agong should be the first to be briefed on the matter.
Last Friday, The Edge Markets reported that a number of counters were seeing active trading.
They include the shares of Malayan United Industries Bhd and Pan Malaysia Holdings.
The Edge Markets reported that Anwar’s sister Farizon Ibrahim is a director in both these companies.
A day before Anwar’s Sept 23 announcement, Malayan United Industries Bhd (MUIND) saw 181,742 of its shares traded but this skyrocketed to 3.9 million shares when markets closed last Friday.
The price, however, has been volatile. It closed at RM0.125 on Sept 22 and has fluctuated, closing at RM0.14 last Friday.
Meanwhile, Pan Malaysia Holdings, which had 96,821 shares traded on Sept 22, saw a 23-fold increase last Friday, with 2.23 million shares changing hands.
Likewise, the share price has been volatile, closing at RM0.205 on Sept 22 but ending lower last Friday at RM0.185.
At 9.53am today, MUIND was the fifth most actively traded counters on Bursa Malaysia, falling by 1.5 sen to 12.5 sen with 43.63 million shares done.
Pan Malaysia was the seventh most actively traded counter.
The stock fell three sen to 15.5 sen with 30.05 million shares changing hands.