Chapter 225: Stabilizing Public Sentiment

After returning from a trip to Hong Kong, Chen Yang's personal account had only 149 million yuan left in cash.

After the stock market reopened on Tuesday, Chen Yang sold three million shares of Liu Clan Group at a price of 20.22 yuan per share, bringing his total available funds up to 209.6 million yuan.

In other words, of Chen Yang's investment in Liu Clan Group's stock, only 19.5 million yuan of principal remained in the market.

Currently, Chen Yang still holds seven million shares of Liu Clan Group. According to today's closing price, he only needs to sell another one million shares, and the rest would be pure profit.

So, he is not in a hurry to exit this time.

However, he still underestimated Yexin and her group's determination to cash out quickly.

After the market opened on Wednesday, they imitated Chen Yang's tactic, pushing Liu Clan Group's stock to the limit-up and then began frantically selling off. From the 9:15 a. m. call auction opening phase to the 9:30 a. m. market open, the outflow of funds reached as high as 300 million yuan, directly performing a 'heaven-to-earth' board.

Moreover, there were still over 30,000 lots of sealed sell orders in the seller column!

"General Manager Chen, you see those damn speculative funds from China Securities—they're inhuman! They're all from East River; is it really necessary to be this ruthless?" Qi Yunxiang complained on the phone while cursing the people who crashed Liu Clan Group's stock price.

At that moment, Chen Yang was also rather embarrassed. In order to let Yexin and her two associates sell smoothly, he spoke up to calm Qi Yunxiang, but ended up dragging both himself and Qi Yunxiang into the pit.

"General Manager Qi, given this situation, we must stay calm. If we follow the trend and sell off, tomorrow will likely hit the limit-down again."

"General Manager Chen, I also want to stay calm, but my clients can't sit still—they're urging me to sell." Qi Yunxiang was so anxious tears were about to fall. He had originally hoped to make a bit more profit from Liu Clan Group's stock, but instead he ended up suffering a big loss.

What made him feel even more wronged was that, although he had always advocated taking profits when good, the clients disagreed. Now that something went wrong, they pushed all the blame onto him.

Chen Yang's mind raced, and he immediately had a solution. He told Qi Yunxiang, "General Manager Qi, let's split up and both handle media PR, promoting Liu Clan Group's future prospects as positively as possible. First stabilize investors' emotions, then join forces to push the stock price up. What do you think?"

"Okay! Then let's start with media PR." At that point, Qi Yunxiang could only grasp at straws. After hanging up, he gathered the elite of Xingcheng Securities' PR department in his office, demanding they immediately produce an emergency plan to hype up Liu Clan Group.

Meanwhile, Chen Yang also called Yexin.

"Sister Yexin, today you've made quite a commotion, haven't you?"

"Sorry, Chen Yang. Today is my fault. I only wanted to sell the stocks early to open an account in Hong Kong, but I lost control of the pace." Yexin had anticipated Chen Yang would call to question her after the stock hit the limit-down, and because she was in the wrong, she lost her usual domineering aura.

Chen Yang now had no mind to assign blame; he simply said to Yexin in a consultative tone, "Sister Yexin, could you get your media friends in Xingcheng to write a few articles to boost Liu Clan Group's popularity? No matter the cost, I'll reimburse it all."

"Sure, I'll find someone right away." Yexin didn't shirk; she immediately called Huang Minmin, chief editor of East River Financial, and asked her magazine to do crisis PR for Liu Clan Group.

Under the influence of media power, the sealed sell orders in Liu Clan Group's seller column began to gradually decrease.

Chen Yang also kept an eye on Liu Clan Group's stock forum. Seeing that investors' emotions had returned to stability, he quickly placed a buy order for 20,000 lots, directly breaking through the sealed board.

Seeing Chen Yang make a move, Qi Yunxiang immediately directed his subordinates to start buying up shares, raising the stock price as fast as possible back to 19.5 yuan.

At this point, investors' emotions had been fully mobilized. Liu Clan Group's stock continued to rise, climbing all the way to 21 yuan before the upward momentum began to ease.

"General Manager Chen, what should we do now—sell off or wait for new market reaction?"

"Now is when investors' emotions are most unstable; if we suddenly sell off, all our previous efforts will come to nothing." Chen Yang knew this was the most critical moment for Liu Clan Group's stock movement. As long as the downtrend is stabilized, the price can still surge upward another wave; if not, it's likely to be knocked back to its original state.

This emotional value has nothing to do with whether Liu Clan Group is a leader in the tech sector; it depends entirely on the deep-seated wishes and thoughts of the vast body of shareholders.

As a veteran shareholder, Chen Yang understands that the direction of the domestic stock market and the rise and fall of stock prices are not determined solely by a company's own strength and performance, but are deeply influenced by the collective will of shareholders.

If the vast majority of shareholders are full of confidence in Liu Clan Group and continue to be optimistic about its future prospects, their enthusiasm and trust are enough to support an increase in the stock price.

Conversely, even if Liu Clan Group possesses an impressive market capitalization and excellent operating results, it is still difficult to stop the downward trend of its stock price.

"Okay, then I won't sell any stocks today, hoping nobody will come cause trouble again." As a veteran securities industry professional, Qi Yunxiang had seen plenty of big winds and waves, and of course he clearly understood the importance of shareholders' will.

Moreover, Chen Yang not only didn't follow the crowd and exit, but also helped him stabilize market sentiment. This restored his originally wavering confidence.

After Chen Yang and Qi Yunxiang reached a tacit understanding, Liu Clan Group's stock finally closed at 21 yuan.

At the same time, in the office of the Securities Investment Department of Stellar Brilliance Financial Investment Company, Yexin saw Liu Clan Group's stock close at 21 yuan and also breathed a sigh of relief. Afterwards, she began loudly complaining to Huang BaiMing and Zhao Feiyang.

"Look at the mess you've made. I told you to keep things low-key and act steadily, but you just wouldn't listen. If you really drag Chen Yang down, we'll have nothing left to play with!"

"General Manager Yexin, when we were selling stocks this morning, it was you who hammered the keyboard the hardest—how can you push the blame onto us?" Huang BaiMing felt wronged; he had only sold eighty percent of his holdings, while Yexin had cleared all the stocks in her accounts.

"This pot, he can at most take one-third of the blame!"

Yexin's cheeks flushed slightly at the words, but she still refused to let them off: "I'm a woman; emotional instability is normal. Since you've noticed, why couldn't you give me a heads‑up?"

"I've been shouting until my voice is almost gone," Huang BaiMing said, seeing Yexin's gaze toward him grow increasingly hostile, he quickly changed his tune: "Maybe it's just that my throat is uncomfortable and I didn't speak clearly. If General Manager Chen investigates later, I'll explain everything clearly."

"Hmm!" Yexin then showed a satisfied smile, telling Huang BaiMing and Zhao Feiyang, "Today's PR expenses—you two also need to submit them for reimbursement."

Huang BaiMing and Zhao Feiyang glanced at each other, both giving a helpless, wry smile.