KUALA LUMPUR (July 28): Ikhmas Jaya Group Bhd, who staged a firm debut on the stock exchange yesterday, saw its share price fall as much as 5.5 sen or 6.7% today on profit taking.

The stock hit an intra-morning high of 83.5 sen, up 1.5 sen or 1.8% higher compared to yesterday's closing of 82 sen.

However, it failed to sustain its gaining momentum, resulting in the stock dropping to its intra-morning low of 76.5 sen, before paring its losses to settle at 77 sen as at midday break.

Ikhmas Jaya was the second most actively traded stock, registering a trading volume of 49.17 million shares changing hands.

The current price gives the piling and engineering specialist some RM405.6 million in market capitalisation.

On its debut yesterday, the counter opened at 68 sen, an 11 sen premium to its issue price of 57 sen. It closed at its intra-day high of 82 sen, up 25 sen or 43.86%, after 171.58 million shares changed hands.

This made the stock the most traded stock and one of the top gainers across the bourse yesterday.

Speaking to pressmen in a press conference after the listing ceremony, Ikhmas Jaya group managing director Datuk Ang Cheng Siong said: "I think the (opening) price is fair and reasonable. It reflects our strong fundamental."

Ang said the group is eyeing projects related to the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore High Speed Rail, as it falls within the group's area of expertise.

Ikhmas Jaya's current order book stands at RM346 million, made up mostly of construction projects.

Ang also expects Ikhmas Jaya to achieve a double-digit revenue growth for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2015 (FY15).

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company's profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)