Fear factor hurdle to buying frenzy

The metal trader hardly made any money from the XOX Bhd trade. But his entry into the market was just the confirmation for the remisier, who has been in the market since 1991, that the buying frenzy on Bursa Malaysia has gone on to levels not seen for a long time now.

ON Wednesday a remisier got a call from a client who has not bought or sold shares over the last 10 years. The client, who is a metal trader, bought stocks in XOX Bhd, a company that registered losses in five out of the last eight years.

When the remisier enquired on the reason for buying the stock, the metal trader said he got a tip from a “reliable friend”. True enough, on Friday XOX was trading at high volume. But it finally closed the day almost unchanged – only half sen higher at 5 sen.