Following the sharp fall yesterday, the price of star stock Harvest Court Industries Bhd today shed another 30 percent when Bursa Malaysia resumed trading this morning.

The shares and warrants tumbled to the limit-down level of RM1.05 and RM0.89 respectively when the market resumed at 9am, dropping nearly one-third from yesterday’s RM1.49 and RM1.27.

At the end of trading today, Harvest shares closed at RM1.04, while Harvest warrants closed at RM0.89, making the company the biggest top three losers.

A statement by the company's shareholder - the prime minister’s second son Mohd Nazifuddin Najib - that his investment in the NONE company is accordance with regulations and free from any government preferential treatment, failed to stop the free fall that began yesterday.

In interviews published yesterday by two Chinese dailies Sin Chew Daily and China Press , Nazifuddin (right) insisted that the government was not involved in the company’s projects, which have a total value of RM1.2 billion.

These were awarded to Harvest Court by Sagajuta (Sabah) Sdn Bhd, of which Nazifuddin is chairperson and which built the 1Borneo mall in Kota Kinabalu.

On speculation about Harvest's share price and rumours being spread about him, Nazifuddin said he was "deeply troubled", but that there was little he could do about the situation.

azlan The company's share price had seen a surge of 2,563 percent from the 8sen recorded on Oct 13.

On Tuesday, Bursa Malaysia declared Harvest's stock and warrant as 'designated securities' and suspended trading for the day.

'Designated securities' means that the trading of the counter will require investors to pay cash upfront on purchase - a move aimed at curbing excessive speculative activity.

The timber company, which had struggled with weak financial performance over the last few years, rose to become the top performer in Bursa Malaysia soon after it appointed Nazifuddin and business partner Raymond Chan as its directors on Oct 28.

Perhaps it should be called Casino Bursa