KUALA LUMPUR (June 9): Interest in shares in Genting Bhd and its 49.52%-owned Genting Malaysia Bhd (GenM) spiked in the earlier part of the trading day on hopes that the casino will resume its business operations.
The group's resorts and casinos have been temporarily closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak since March 18, as a result of the Movement Control Order (MCO).
At noon break, Genting's share price was up 47 sen or 10.71% at RM4.86, with some 14.24 million shares done — doubling its 200-day average volume of 6.87 million. In early morning trade, it surged as much as 12.76%. It is currently the seventh top gainer on Bursa Malaysia.
The hilltop casino operator's share price rose as much as 6.54%, before it pared some of its gains and was up 15 sen or 5.77% at RM2.75 at 12.30pm. Some 41.11 million shares were traded, already surpassing its 200-day average volume of 1.42 million shares.
An analyst, on condition of anonymity, said that he is puzzled by the upward trend of both stocks, saying that he believes that "some investors [may have] thought [that] the operations are allowed to commence".
In the latest announcement on the short-term economic recovery plan as well as the speech on Recovery MCO that is to start tomorrow until Aug 31, there was no mention of resumption of the casinos any time soon.
Elsewhere, casinos in Macau have already long resumed their operations and most recently, the casinos in Las Vegas also opened their doors last week.
Genting sank into the red with a net loss of RM133.32 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 (1QFY20), from a net profit of RM561.64 million last year, while revenue came in 26.26% lower at RM4.11 billion versus RM5.57 billion previously.
The last time the group fell into the red was over a year ago in 3QFY18, when it posted a net loss of RM275.8 million following a huge impairment loss related to an investment by GenM.
GenM also posted a net loss of RM417.95 million in 1QFY20, compared with a net profit of RM268.28 million last year, while quarterly revenue shed 28.5% to RM1.95 billion from RM2.73 billion.
On top of being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, GenM also recognised a loss of RM100.1 million relating to its stake in financially stressed Empire Resorts Inc, a casino it acquired from controlling shareholder Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay last year.