Nov 10 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc shares edged higher on Wednesday, following a two-day rout that saw the electric-car maker shed as much as $200 billion in market capitalization.
The selloff was spurred by company chief Elon Musk’s poll over the weekend asking his Twitter followers if he should sell 10% of his stake in the company. A near 58% said they supported a sale.
Tesla shares were up 1.7% at $1,041.25 by 0940 GMT after sliding 8% so far this week.
Investors are keeping a close watch on Tesla filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for any clues on Musk’s share-sale plans. SEC rules give companies four working days to report major events.
Four former and current Tesla board members, including Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk, filed to sell nearly $1 billion worth of shares late last month, according to filings and market data.
“A CEO asking his followers if he should sell a large number of shares is never going to reflect well in the share price. Doing so a day after his brother has sold a large number just compounds investor fears,” said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Oanda.
“That said, I think we need to take Musk with a pinch of salt and investors may quickly view this as a dip buying opportunity.”
Despite the selloff, the stock is still up nearly 45% for the year after hitting a series of record highs in an eye-watering rally that catapulted the company into the trillion-dollar club last month. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar, additional reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)