KUALA LUMPUR (March 10): Electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider Cape EMS Bhd, which made its debut on the Main Market, jumped 67% or 60 sen to finish at RM1.50 on its first trading day against its initial public offer (IPO) price of 90 sen.

The hefty gain has made it the best performing Main Market IPO stock on maiden trading since last year. However, it is the fifth among its peers which debuted this year so far.

The stock opened at RM1.42, a premium of 52 sen or 57.78% over its listing price of 90 sen. It reached an intra-day high of 75.5 sen.

Based on the closing of RM1.50, its market capitalisation expanded to RM1.39 billion.

Cape EMS was the most actively traded counter on the local bourse with 253.58 million shares changing hands.

Cape EMS’s maiden trading day performance beat all five companies that made their debut on the Main-Market over the past year.

ITMAX System Bhd, which debuted in December last year, had its share price climbing 29% on its first trading day to RM1.38, against the IPO price of RM1.07.

Farm Fresh Bhd recorded a 27.4% gain in its first-day performance after it closed at RM1.72 compared with its IPO price of RM1.35.

AME Real Estate Investment Trust, however, received lukewarm response as it only posted a marginal gain of 2.65% or three sen on its maiden trading day. Its IPO price was RM1.13.

In contrast, shares in Senheng New Retail Bhd and Seng Fong Holdings Bhd faltered on their Main Market debut.

However, Cape EMS’s first-day gain of 66.67% only placed it as the fifth highest among the eight new companies listed on Bursa Malaysia so far this year.

The most impressive first-day performer of the eight IPOs was TT Vision Holdings Bhd with a 276.5% increase in its share price, followed by NationGate Holdings Bhd (163.16% increase) and Wellspire Holdings Bhd (86.96% increase).

L&P Global Bhd chalked up a nearly 82% gain on its maiden trading day, followed by Cape EMS.

Vestland Bhd was up 18.18% and DS Sigma Holdings Bhd was up 12.73%.

Kumpulan Kitacon Bhd is another company that was listed on Main Market this year. Its share price went up 10.3% on the first day.

Notably, Kitacon’s share base stood at 500 million shares compared with Cape EMS' 923 million shares.

The next company to be listed on Bursa Malaysia is Oppstar Bhd, which will commence trading on Wednesday (March 15).