FCB’s $22 share, now up at $34.94

The opening price didn’t stay there for long. Within the first minute of trading, one bidder paid $25.30 per share for 1,000 shares. That was the day’s sole transaction.

The share price went up on Tuesday to $29.09 with the sale of 20 shares. The number of transactions “jumped” on Wednesday, with a total of 23,952 shares traded in 24 transactions at $33.45 a share. Thursday’s trading began with FIRST’s listing price at $33.45 and even more shares were traded that day — 579,203, but at various prices, from $38.46, to $38.00, then $38.89, $35.00 and finally, $34.99 per share. The closing price that day was $37.59, the weighted average of all shares traded that day.

Yesterday, FIRST ended its inaugural week of trading on the TTSE at $34.94. This was the first time the share value dropped below that of the previous day’s closing listing price. However, this price was another weighted average of the day’s trading, as investors bought 192,138 shares on Friday at prices ranging between $34.50 and $34.98.

The overall increased value of FIRST shares was an expected outcome of its listing, since there were three times more subscribers than available shares during the subscription period of July 15 - August 12, 2013.

The initial public offering (IPO) of a little less than 20 percent of Government’s holding First Citizen’s for just under 20 percent of the Government’s stake in the bank. The IPO was launched on July 15, and at its close on August 12, it had been oversubscribed by three times its $1.1 billion value.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday afternoon, Brokerage Services Manager at First Citizens Brokerage and Advisory Services Limited, Leslie St Louis, said he wasn’t surprised at Friday’s moderate price drop.

“After that meteoric rise in share price earlier this week, I’m not surprised to see a drop. Demand and supply affects share price, which in turn affects the trading volume because investors are weighing the expected dividend yield against the price they have to pay for shares. So the share price is expected to settle down between $26 - $34 per share over the next few weeks,” St Louis noted.

The bank’s Chairman, Nyree Alfonso, told Newsday she was “humbled by the public’s confidence in First Citizens. We on the inside know what the bank is worth, what its growth potential is, but it’s a big boost to know other people recognise this too, and want to own shares.”