SINGAPORE — Jewellery retailer Soo Kee Group suffered the worst trading debut on the Singapore Exchange this year, after its shares plunged 18.3 per cent yesterday from the initial public offering price on heavy selling amid weak broad market sentiment.

The shares, listed on the Catalist junior board, opened at the IPO price of 30 cents each, and were quickly hammered by repeated waves of selling. They ended at the day’s low of 24.5 cents, with nearly 33.7 million shares changing hands, making it the seventh most actively traded counter.

“The first day performance of Soo Kee is the worst for the eight IPOs we had so far this year. The second and third worst were CMC Infocomm, down 6 per cent, and LHN, down 4.4 per cent. The other five listings traded higher on the first day, where Singapore O&G saw the best gain at an increase of 154 per cent,” said IG Markets analyst Bernard Aw.

Soo Kee’s IPO of 112.5 million shares was 1.1 times subscribed — the public tranche of 9 million shares was covered 3.3 times while the placement tranche of 103.5 million shares was fully subscribed.

CMC Markets analyst Nicholas Teo said: “The 1.1 times subscription highlighted that there was not a lot of demand for the stock. Looking at the decline in the initial hour suggests that retail investors may have gotten more shares than they had expected.”

“The timing of the IPO is also not exactly great. The stock is coming in when markets are having a really tough time. The markets are in a negative tide as we speak,” he added.

The benchmark Straits Times Index has lost 3.4 per cent this week after closing down 1 per cent yesterday at 3,009.78, as funds continued to flee the region’s markets amid concerns over a United States rate hike and after China devalued the yuan last week.

Homegrown Soo Kee, with 60 retail stores in Singapore and Malaysia, plans to use the net IPO proceeds of about S$31.6 million for the expansion of the group’s network of stores, introduce new product lines, and as capital expenditure and repayment of loans for the construction of its new Changi Business Park headquarters.

The proceeds will also be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.