AirAsia shares rebound
KUALA LUMPUR: The share prices of AirAsia Group Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd rebounded, albeit mildly, on Bursa Malaysia after two days of selldown over Airbus bribery allegations.
AirAsia and AirAsia X gained one sen and 0.5 sen to close at RM1.16 and 12 sen, respectively, yesterday.
The upswing came after news that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) sold nearly eight million AirAsia shares before the allegations of kickbacks linked to Airbus made its round.
The EPF reportedly disposed of 7.92 million AirAsia shares at the end of last month.
EPF still holds a 6.2 per cent stake in AirAsia, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data.
Some analysts have described the sell-off of AirAsia and AirAsia X shares as “temporary turbulence”.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of research Vincent Lau said investors were more concerned about the airlines’ flight cancellations and ticket refunds due to the coronavirus.
“This affects the airlines’ overall operations, which were worsened by the corporate governance issue,” he told the New
Straits Times yesterday.
He said the airlines’ operations would “normalise” once the demand for air travel returns and the bribery allegations are cleared.
“Crude oil price fell below US$50 per barrel recently and this will help the airlines to offset tepid travel demand dampened by the virus outbreak,” he said.
OANDA senior market analyst for Asia Pacific Jeffrey Halley said the low-cost carriers were at the front line of a sell-off in the transport sector, caused by the potential economic slowdown from the virus outbreak.
“This has been compounded by an increasing number of countries banning flights to and from China,” he said.
Halley said the Airbus-AirAsia corruption allegations caught investors by surprise.
Meanwhile, AirAsia X said its board of directors had formed a committee comprising non-executive members, save for Datuk Kamarudin Meranun and Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, to review the bribery allegations.
“The committee’s main objective will be to review the allegations therein so far as it concerns AirAsia X and to take action based on the review, which includes the appointment of an independent expert,” it said yesterday.