KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 17): Priceworth International Bhd rose as much as 10% after the timber-based company said it had formed a joint venture with a Petrolam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) contractor to offer oil and gas (O&G) support services.

Last Monday, Priceworth announced that wholly-owned unit Maxland Dockyard & Engineering Sdn Bhd had  teamed with Semaring Enterprise Sdn Bhd, a licensed and registered contractor as well as supplier to Petronas,  to offer technical and advisory services on offshore and onshore marine-related works for the O&G sector.

Maxland operates a shipyard, which includes a dockyard and engineering facility, to fabricate and service vessels and barges. Under the joint venture, Maxland will provide technical and advisory services as well as implement the projects while Semaring will secure the necessary O&G work from Petronas.

Today, Priceworth rose as much as 2.5 sen to 28.5 sen before reducing gains.

At 10.18am, Priceworth shares were traded at 27.5 sen, up 1.5 sen, or 5.8% with some 54.8 million shares transacted. The stock was the bourse's second most active counter.

TA Securities Holdings Bhd wrote in a note today Priceworth was among the research firm's list of 30 potential break out stocks.

"This is a good watch list for momentum traders looking for short-term buy ideas, as they are laggards with good upside potential towards the upper Bollinger band or higher to take profit/sell," TA said.