CIFI Holdings (Group) Co. shares rose the most in four months after news that its majority owners continue to buy the stock of the property developer.
Shares rose as much as 18% intraday to 2.34 Hong Kong dollars (US$0.30), which is the biggest percentage gain since March, as investors bet that management and owners will continue to buy shares.
The owners and executives of the company have been buying the stock in the open market since the start of the year at a time when the China’s real estate market is faced with headwinds on many fronts, including falling property sales and a tight credit market.
The stock is down over 50% in the year to date. Its contracted property sales in June totaled 13.50 billion yuan (US$2 billion), down from CNY26.09 billion year earlier.
“The controlling shareholders are confident about the future prospects of the company and may consider further increasing their shareholdings in the company when appropriate in the future,” CIFI said Monday.
Shares are up 14.9% at HK$2.24, while the Hang Seng Index is down 0.8% at 20453.25.