Soo Kee sheds 10% an hour into trading on its debut day

JEWELLER Soo Kee Group fell three Singapore cents or 10 per cent to S$0.27 an hour into its first trading day on Thursday on Singapore Exchange's ( SGX) Catalist board. Its initial public offering price was S$0.30.

By 10am, some 21.1 million shares had changed hands, making it the third most active counter on the market.

The Straits Times Index was down 27.53 points or 0.91 per cent to 3,013.72 at 10.06am, with losers outnumbering gainers 234 to 50.

Singapore-headquartered Soo Kee has a network of over 60 retail stores in Singapore and Malaysia. The company offers jewellery products and mementoes through its three brands - Soo Kee Jewellery, SK Jewellery and Love & Co - each with its custom branding to cater to different market segments.

In a statement, Mohamed Nasser Ismail, head of SME Development & Listings at SGX, said: "We are pleased to welcome Soo Kee Group, an established Singapore company, to SGX. We look forward to supporting Soo Kee Group on its growth journey as it continues to ride on the rising consumer class in the region."

The listing of Soo Kee brings the total number of consumer-sector companies on SGX to 161, with a combined market capitalisation of S$141 billion. Following the listing, there are 163 companies listed on Catalist with a total market capitalisation of over S$10 billion.