What do the Stock RMK (remarks) mean?

During the past week, I have one colleague vested in Olam and she got a shock when a "H" suddenly appears in the "Rmk" column just beside the stock code. I told her that the management team is requesting a trading halt to make an announcement; and the stocks will resume after the request is lifted once more.

She panicked again, asking if it is bad news. I teased her saying it may be; whereas it can be either good or bad. Fortunately, it turns out to be an acquisition from Temasek's subsidiary! In the end she profited handsomely from the deal. haha.. happy for her.


So what actually do the abbreviations in Remark (Rmk) column denotes? According to the I touch on a few common ones below:

• CD - means with dividend. A Dividend has been declared but not paid.
  
• XD - Ex-dividend date signifies that the dividend has been paid out. Thus, you must buy the stock from the period [CD to one day before XD] to be entitled to the dividends.
  
• H - Trading Halt [A temporary suspension in the trading of a particular security on one or more exchanges, usually in anticipation of a news announcement or to correct an order imbalance. A trading halt may also be imposed for purely regulatory reasons. During a trading halt, open orders may be canceled and options may be exercised.]
  
• SUSP - It means that the shares are suspended indefinitely on a case-by-case basis, usually pending investigations. In the local context, many china stocks have been suspended before. E.g. China Hongxing.

Conclusion

As you can see from the list beside, there are still many other remarks to learn for stocks investing. Nevertheless, you do not have to worry so much. Stocks investment is an on-going journey, what matters most is that you are willing to keep an open heart to learn as you go along. Google is always there to help out!