Do You Think There's Honesty And Integrity In Our Financial News?

It's serious.

Think about it.

Recall the posting on Permaju ( see No Such Timber Concession! )  made on 9th Jan 2013. Based on information on a so-called source, Permaju Holdings was said to be close to be awarded a GIANT timber concession. The stock upon being 'gifted' with such good news surged much higher. Later in the day, this so called news was denied by all parties involved. Stock of course went down.

What's the first thing that came to mind?

Would it be wrong to conclude that someone lied about the existence of the giant timber concession. Someone had cheated and profited by the surge in the stock price. Someone had invented the giant timber concession to make the stock surge.

Would these be a wrong set of assumptions?

But what about the role of the financial press itself?

Do they just publish the news without even checking the validity of its so-called sources?

And when the story is denied, doesn't the financial news and its reporter and editor have any remorse to see the stock go up but only to come crashing down once the story is denied?

Does the reporter feel even stupid for writing such an article?

And what about the role of the editor?

If such events keep happening, aren't they even ashamed about it?

Don't they understand that as an editor, they need to preserve the integrity of the financial press?

Surely, they can't allow these cheating and lying sources to keep feeding their reporters with baseless pieces of information. Surely they cannot allow the financial press be used as a tool for these cheater and liars to push their stock prices.

Think about the No Such Timber Concession! posting again. The next morning, after Business Times published the Giant timber concession story, Business Times published Sabah Forestry: No timber concession issued. Do we see Business Times publish an apology for publishing the erroneous Giant timber concession story?

The next day, Business Times published another story based on un-known sources suggesting that DRB will be privatised. ( See Why 'According To Sources' Financial News Should Be Stopped ).

Same style.

Based on sources, this and that is going to happen.

Stock naturally moves higher.

And needless to say, the news is denied.

What's the obvious question?

Did someone cheated by cooking the DRB privatisation story up so that they can profit from the moving stock price?

If the answer is a clear yes, then why is our financial press being used as a tool for others to cheat?

And someone would even question the role of the financial press involved. What if someone within the financial press is in cahoots with these sources?

How?

On today's so-called financial news.

• Ng set to make further moves on Inch Kenneth
  
  By Francis Fernandez Published: 2013/01/21
  
  SYF Resources Bhd chairman Ng Ah Chai plans to boost his interest in Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber Public Ltd Co by as early as this week.
  
  Last week, Business Times reported that the tycoon was going to raise his personal stake in Inch Kenneth to about 10 per cent.
  
  Subsequently, on January 17, Inch Kenneth told the stock exchange that Ng had bought more of the company's shares from January 11 to January 17 this year.
  
  Against this backdrop, Inch Kenneth had started buying back its own shares in recent days. From December 27 last year until today, the company has bought back some 6.39 million of its shares to bring its treasury shareholding to 6.75 million shares.
  
  As a result of the purchase, Ng now controls 42.16 million Inch Kenneth shares, giving him ownership of 10.18 per cent of the company.
  
  Ng, a long-time shareholder of SYF, one of the largest rubberwood furniture manufacturers in the country, had emerged in Inch Kenneth some five months ago.
  
  Ng and parties alligned to him are expected to boost their stake in Inch Kenneth to about 15 per cent by the end of this week, said a person familiar with Ng's plans for the company.
  
  "Ng might tie up with another public-listed company to gain a firmer foothold in Inch Kenneth," said the source.
  
  The source said by the end of next week, they will request for a board seat.
  
  "Their desire for now is not to take control of Inch Kenneth, but to force the current Inch Kenneth board to either return the cash from the company's war chest or to provide a detailed plan on the company's future development plans."
  
  A check on its annual report for the year ended 31 December 2011 showed that Inch Kenneth had RM221.69 million as short-term deposits with banks.
  
  Inch Kenneth became cash rich after it sold two plots of land in Bangi, Selangor, to UEM Land Holdings Bhd for RM268.5 million.
  
  "Minority shareholders should be given a special dividend from the proceeds of the sale, or an executable plan should be given on how Inch Kenneth is going to develop its massive landbank," added the source.
  
  He did not discount the possibility of the Ng faction making an outright offer to take over the company.
  
  Currently, the dominant shareholders of Inch Kenneth are those who control Concrete Engineering Products Bhd (CEPCO). CEPCO controls about 13.5 per cent of Inch Kenneth.
  
  CEPCO disclosed last year that it was buying Inch Kenneth shares because Inch Kenneth was trading at below its net asset per share of RM1.71.
  
  "The current market price represents a good opportunity to average down the cost of the investment, backed by the net asset of Inch Kenneth at RM1.71," CEPCO said in its annual report last year.
  
  However, according to RHB Research, Inch Kenneth should be valued at between RM1.77 and RM1.88, based on the sum parts valuation method.
  
  The method values a company by determining what its divisions would be worth if they were broken up and spun off or acquired by another company.

And this is the very same reporter, who also based on unknown source wrote the Giant timber concession for Permaju.

Yes!!!!

Same reporter.

Same style.

Based on sources!!!!!

Makes you wonder. Did this reporter get censored for publishing the Permaju giant fimber concession story at all?

See, we can blame sources for cheating and lying to the financial press. They lied to the press in an attempt to profit from the stock price movement.

But let me ask once again.

What about the financial press?

Should they not show restrain from simply publishing news based on such sources?

Look once the parties involved denies the story published, the financial press is going to look mighty stupid from publishing such news.

But since it is happening constantly, I do wonder...

So I am asking "Do You Think There's  Honesty And Integrity In Our Financial News?'