WEALTH management and brokerage platform iFast Corporation has clarified that a recent response to a query from Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) was not meant to imply anything about its coming results.

 

SGX RegCo had on Oct 9 queried the firm on " unusual price movements" after the counter ended the day 8.46 per cent higher at S$2.82. This was its second query in three months.

 

Shares of iFast have gained 21.5 per cent in the last month, and 31.5 per cent since the last query on Aug 7.

 

iFast responded on the same day that it was not aware of any information not previously announced that might explain the trading, but also drew a possible link between the trading pattern and market expectation of its third-quarter financial results release on Oct 23.

 

iFast said in response to queries from The Business Times that it was not implying there had been any leak of its results, neither was it providing guidance about its results.

 

It said the " spike in share price came right after" its announcement on Oct 9 regarding the results release, but added that there are " various measures" in place to restrict access to sensitive information.

 

Referencing recent news flow about its own stock and the brokerage and wealth management industry, an iFast spokesperson suggested that the share price movements could be due instead to " market speculation" .

 

The company also noted that it is among the group of companies that have voluntarily committed to continue releasing quarterly numbers. " We think our Q3 financial results could be something that investors are looking forward to, especially during this period where there may be very few companies releasing their complete financial results," iFast said.

 

An SGX RegCo spokesperson, responding to BT' s queries, referred to iFast' s guidance in its H1 results that its full-year performance is expected to show " healthy growth in profits and revenues compared to 2019" .

 

Said the regulator: " The company' s response to our query (on Oct 12) represents that there is no new information apart from the above.

 

" We will be monitoring the company' s subsequent announcements to verify that this is indeed the case, as well as the trading in its securities."

 

iFast' s shares extended their gain on Tuesday, closing at S$2.88, up S$0.06 or 2.1 per cent. The counter hit an intraday high of S$2.99 at 10.15am, an increase of S$0.13 or 4.55 per cent from the previous day' s close, before shedding some of those gains.