Stock Market Predictions
NEW YORK/BEIJING (Global Markets) - Officials from a small, U.S.-listed Chinese mobile phone distributor on Friday said inaccuracies on its website that prevented people from contacting the company were mistakes that would be corrected.
Orsus's stock has seen an unprecedented spike in volatility and trading action after Interactive Brokers listed the stock more than a week ago as being one of 160 Chinese securities with "elevated risk concerns."
The moves, which at one point after the Interactive Broker rule drove up the stock more than 300 percent within a week on some of its highest-ever volume, prompted Global Markets to try to contact the company at both its Beijing headquarters and New York offices, attempts that were unsuccessful.
The website of Beijing-based Orsus-Xelent (ORS.A) listed phone numbers that were disconnected and addresses that belonged to other businesses, including Orsus's former investor relations firm in New York.
Li Yinsheng, the personal secretary to Orsus Chief Executive Liu Guoji, noted that the contact information given on the website "has some mistakes," adding that the errors had been corrected.
However, the information hadn't been changed as of Friday afternoon, and the site listed a different chief executive, Xavier Xin Wang, on its management page.
Li gave a new Beijing address for the company, on a different floor in the same building listed on the website, and the new address was verified by Global Markets.
The company, however, could not comment on the dramatic gyrations in its shares, which were down 24.6 percent to $3.18 on Friday, again on heavy volume. While the stock has dropped for each of the past three sessions, it remains up about 120 percent from a recent low of $1.25.
"We've gotten calls about the price, but we don't have any idea why the price is so unusual," said Orsus Chief Financial Officer Chen Hua. "But I don't pay attention to the trading volume or the stock price."
Commenting on the inaccuracies of the website, Hua said he didn't know too many details about the company because he hadn't been there that long -- in his current position for a little more than a year.
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
