Trading halts have to be the most misunderstood ASX listing rule. Trading halts relate to continuous disclosure rules and are an election made by the company (not the ASX) solely to comply with those continuous disclosure rules, i.e. the prompt release of price sensitive information.
The ASX usually sees 'prompt' as a half a day, a day at best. Trading halts are a next-resort option if a company has material information but cannot make an announcement (for whatever reason) promptly. It therefore must request a trading halt to avoid breaching its continuous disclosure obligations. As soon as it has the full info that it needs to make an announcement to the market, it issues it and comes out of a halt. If it can't do that withing two days, it requests a voluntary suspension, which stays in place until it can.
My point is people often associate trading halts with 'big' news (and fair enough, often they can be). But a company can't just ask the ASX for a halt solely because it has major news. They ask for the halt because they are simply unable to make the announcement. An example could simply be they have been awarded a contract (even a small one) but they missed a signature because the company secretary was on leave or whatever.
The key point is, trading halts are not a discretionary tool to build suspension or prepare the market for something big, they are just a self-regulatory measure. Can apply to anything really.
That said, I think we are heading to 'Rio' with this one lol, at least I hope so.
NWH Price at posting:
$1.75 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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