The Trades That Caused a $2 Billion Plunge in UOB’s Market Value Have Been Upheld
Singapore Exchange Ltd. upheld the trades that briefly erased more than $2 billion in market value for United Overseas Bank Ltd.
(Bloomberg) -- Singapore Exchange Ltd. upheld the trades that briefly erased more than $2 billion in market value for United Overseas Bank Ltd., saying the transactions didn’t breach any limits and there were no requests for cancellation.
Shares in Singapore’s third-largest bank by assets slumped as much as 6.6% in early trading amid thin volume but quickly reversed that loss. Four traders said that they suspect the slump was due to a trading error. The stock rose 0.4% as of 3:20 p.m. in local time, adding to its yearly gain of about 4.6% as of Tuesday’s close.
The brief plunge in UOB’s shares brought back memories of haphazard spree of sell orders that caused a $41 billion crash in shares of Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd., the flagship investment firm of a 186-year-old conglomerate, earlier this year.
“No request to cancel the trades was received and the trades were upheld,” Carolyn Lim, a spokeswoman at the exchange said by email. Trades involving 80,000 UOB shares were put through this morning between S$24.00 and S$25.69 during continuous trading, Lim said.
Kelyn Tan Siang Wei, a spokeswoman for UOB, did not provide any comments on the trade.
--With assistance from Chanyaporn Chanjaroen and Livia Yap.
To contact the reporter on this story: Abhishek Vishnoi in Singapore at avishnoi4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Divya Balji at dbalji1@bloomberg.net, Ravil Shirodkar
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