GGRAsia – AGEM Index stocks all dip in Feb amid coronavirus concerns

AGEM Index stocks all dip in Feb amid coronavirus concerns

Mar 10, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

The AGEM Index of gaming equipment supplier stocks for February decreased by 71.59 points to 468.91 points, down 13.2 percent on the prior month, showed a written statement released on Monday.

The contraction was driven by sequential stock price declines “for all 13 AGEM Index companies as markets around the globe reacted to the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 outbreak,” said the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM), which issues the index. It was referring to the economic effects of a novel coronavirus infection first detected in China’s Hubei province and now spread around the world.

“All three major United States stock indices decreased as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 experienced monthly declines of 10.1 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively. The Nasdaq also experienced a drop of 6.4 percent, “ noted the trade body.

AGEM said that nonetheless the index of stock prices for major publicly-listed makers of gaming equipment was 1.1 percent higher than a year earlier.

The trade body produces the monthly AGEM Index in association with research firm Applied Analysis LLC.

The stock price for Australia-based slot machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd dropped by 8.5 percent month-on-month in February, accounting for a 28.12-point decrease in the AGEM Index. Aristocrat’s stock value was nevertheless up 34.5 percent year-on-year.

Crane Co, a supplier of cash-handling technology to the casino sector, contributed a 15.56-point decline to the index in February. The company had a 20.5-percent sequential contraction in its share price, and a 19.7-percent fall in its stock value year-on-year.

International Game Technology Plc (IGT), a lottery and slot machine specialist saw a 21.1-percent contraction in its stock price judged month-on-month, and a 38.3 percent decline year-on-year, but accounted for only a negative 8.56-point change in the index.

Lottery, online and casino games provider Scientific Games Corp saw a 26.6-percent sequential fall in its share price, and a 37.2-percent downward correction year-on-year for February, but contributed only 8.42-points of the decline seen in the February index.

Of the 13 gaming-equipment supplier stocks around the world tracked by the AGEM Index, 9 suppliers are based in the U.S., two constituent stocks are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, one is traded in Tokyo, and another trades on the Taipei Exchange, Taiwan’s over-the-counter market for stocks and bonds.

AGEM represents manufacturers of electronic gaming devices, systems, lotteries and components for the gaming industry. The association began compiling data for the index in January 2005 using a base of 100 points. The stocks that constitute the AGEM Index are weighted by approximate market capitalisation.