Hanmi Financial, Neurocrine Biosciences: Midday Volume Plays

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Hanmi Financial (HAFC) rallied 30% on a $240 million capital infusion, making in one of several stocks under $5 moving on above-average volume Wednesday.

Hanmi Financial surged after the bank said Woori Finance Holdings will purchase a minimum of $210 mln of Hanmi common stock at a purchase price of $1.20 per share. Under the agreement, Woori has the option to purchase up to an additional $30 million in Hanmi common stock.

Hanmi Financial also said it intends to commence a $120 million offering that will be comprised of a $60 million rights offering to existing stockholders and a $60 million registered best efforts offering of common stock to the public.

Hanmi Financial shares jumped by 66 cents, or 32.5%, to $2.69. Volume topped 3.49 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 1.09 million, according to the Nasdaq.

Elsewhere, Rodman & Renshaw (RODM) jumped by 45 cents, or 18%, to $2.95 after the company's board of directors approved a $5 million stock repurchase plan. Volume topped 230,000 shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 158,000.

Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) extended Tuesday's 24% rally, climbing another 25.3% to $4.26. Volume topped 7.02 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 391,000.

On Tuesday, Neurocrine Biosciences said a Phase II Daisy PETAL study using its Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone receptor antagonist, elagolix, showed "statistically significant and clinically meaningful top-line efficacy results."

On the other hand, USEC (USU) retraced some of the previous session's gain, falling 7.6% to $4.86 during Wednesday's session. Volume topped 2.3 million shares, compared to the three-month average daily volume of 2.39 million, according to Yahoo! Finance.

USEC shares rallied 24.1% Tuesday after nuclear power companies Toshiba Corp. and The Babcock & Wilcox Co. said they will jointly invest $200 million in the company to foster its uranium enrichment technology.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston.

Check out all of Wednesday's high-volume, under-$5 stocks at the Dollar Store. View the Dollar Store portfolio on StockPickr.

Follow Robert Holmes on Twitter and become a fan of TheStreet.com on Facebook.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints