Shares Buy back

Insider transactions: Asia Insider notes that buying was strong for a second week, whilst insider selling stayed weak, for the week ending 24 Aug.

Purchases: 34 companied had 76 insider purchases worth $7.76m versus 20 companies with 40 trades worth $3.1m the previous week.

Sales: One transaction worth $0.26m compared to two sale trades totaling $0.26m by insiders the previous week.

Buybacks: 33 companies made 142 repurchases worth $167m against 20 firms with 74 transactions worth $145m.

Notable transactions:
Bumitama Agri: Maiden buyback of 216,000 shares at $0.80 each, 25% lower than its Jun price, but higher than IPO price of $0.745.

OUE: First repurchase since May ’12 with 800,000 shares bought at average price of $1.85, accounting for 43% of the week's trading volume, and 18% below the Feb high.

IFS: Chairman Lim Hua Min made his first on-market trade, purchasing 54,000 at $0.33, raising his deemed holdings to 40.82%. The trade was made on the back of a 17% drop in share price since Jun.

Yongnam: CEO Seow Soon Yong bought for a first since Mar ’09 with 532,000 shares done at an average price of $0.378, increasing his direct holdings to 8.17%. Share price has fallen 58% since Nov ’14.

Sembcorp Industries: Resumed buybacks with 750,000 share done at average of $3.35, following the 31% share price drop since Apr.

Chuan Hup: Repurchased shares for the first time since Aug ’10, buying a million shares at $0.335, amid a 29% share price rise since Dec ’14.