GM shares plunge 32%; NYSE to delist stocks

NEW YORK: Shares of General Motors plunged 32 per cent in the first half-an-hour of trading on Monday after the company filed for bankruptcy.

The New York Stock Exchange has said that stocks of the auto maker would be delisted from the bourse before trading opens on June 2.

The scrip of General Motors, which has already slipped below the one-dollar mark, was trading at just 51 cents today after reaching an intra-day low of 27 cents.

At the current share price, the car maker has a market capitalisation of little over 344 million dollars. The latest figures reflects the precarious position of General Motors, since the entity had a market valuation of about 11 billion dollars just a year ago.

Shares of the company closed at 75 cents, the lowest in more than 70 years, on Friday.

Terming that auto maker is "no longer suitable for listing", the NYSE in a statement said it has determined that the "common stock of General Motors... should be suspended prior to the opening on June 2, 2009".

"This decision was reached in view of the June 1, 2009 announcement of a voluntary filing by the company and three domestic subsidiaries for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code with the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York," the bourse noted.

The statement also said that there is uncertainty as to the timing and outcome of the bankruptcy process, including the planned sale of substantially all of the auto maker's global assets to a new entity, as well as the ultimate effect of this process on the company's equity holders and creditors.

In the last one year, the steep slide in share prices has seen General Motors investors lose paper wealth to the tune of more than USD 10 billion. Faced with massive losses and adverse economic situation, the US government has already pumped in nearly USD 20 billion into the auto maker.