KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): Proprietary day traders (PDT) and intraday short selling (IDSS) activities were suspended today for Gamuda Bhd and George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd whose share prices tumbled further today.

Short selling of these stocks were suspended by Bursa Malaysia as their last done price dropped more than 15% from their reference price. The PDT and IDSS activities are only to be enabled at 8.30am tomorrow.

At the closing bell today, Gamuda shares were down 95 sen or 23% to RM3.18, with some RM2.3 billion in market capitalisation wiped out. Its shares had hit an intraday low of RM3, down 38% from its close on Monday.

As for George Kent, its shares closed down 30 sen or 21% today at RM1.13, slightly better than its intraday low of RM1.12.

Both stocks took a hammering today, in light of recent news reports quoting Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the Kuala Lumpur to Singapore High Speed Rail project has been called off. Gamuda and Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd were appointed as the project delivery partner for the north portion of the HSR.

PublicInvest Research in a note today to revise its call for Gamuda from outperform to neutral, and its cut its target price on the stock from RM6.20 to RM4.30.

As for George Kent’s involvement in the HSR, the group had announced in February that it had  joined forces with Siemens AG, Alstom, PORR and Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (Italian State Railways) in a consortium to bid for the HSR Assets Co tender.