Penny fever rages while STI dips

PENNY stock fever continued to rage in the local stock market on Wednesday even as blue chip activity dipped - the Straits Times Index may have dropped 5.11 points to 3,066.53 in line with the Dow futures surrendering its morning gains, but unit volume remained high at 3.5 billion units.

Dollar value was S$1.2 billion, which meant that the average value per unit traded was S$0.34 - firmly in penny territory. Excluding warrants, there were 258 rises versus 213 falls, so the broad market was more firm than weak.

Instead of the banks or large caps like Keppel or Jardine stocks, the market's recent leader has been interior design and furniture firm Serrano, which earlier this week announced the entry of new investors via a 3.8 billion share placement at S$0.002 per share. The counter on Wednesday rose S$0.043, or 148 per cent, to S$0.072 on volume of 142 million, bringing its two-day rise to a staggering 3,500 per cent.