Staff reporter
A Singaporean firm plunged nearly 40 percent on its trading debut yesterday while another newly listed firm fell 22 percent, in contrast to recent new listings whose shares soared on their debuts.
Singaporean precision engineering services provider Metasurface Technologies (8637) slumped 39 percent on its debut on the Growth Enterprise Market board, closing at HK$1.47 compared to its offer price of HK$2.42 and handing investors a loss of HK$950 per board lot of 1,000 shares.
The company, which raised HK$65.34 million in its Hong Kong IPO, saw its retail tranche 2,480 times oversubscribed.
Metasurface is the second small firm to be listed since the GEM board's reforms this year, after semiconductor manufacturer UBoT (8529) debuted in early June
UBoT opened 32 percent higher before paring gains to a 6 percent rise at the close. Its retail tranche was 2,502 times oversubscribed.
On the main board, China ride-sharing operator Dida (2559), which tumbled 22.5 percent on its June 28 debut, plummeted a further 22.6 percent on its second trading day.
However, Chinese handcrafted gold jewelry brand Laopu Gold (6181), which also debuted on June 28, jumped 10 percent following a 72.8 percent gain in its debut.
Overall, the performance of debutantes improved with only 30 percent falling below their offer prices on their first day of trading in the first half of this year, compared to over 50 percent in the same period last year.
PricewaterhouseCoopers expects there may be mega listings raising over HK$5 billion in the city in the second half of the year. However, PwC cut its forecast for funds raised from Hong Kong IPOs to between HK$70 billion and HK$80 billion this year from an earlier estimate of HK$100 billion, although it is still the most bullish call among Big Four global accounting firms.
Metasurface had a forgettable debut, slumping 39 percent.
