KUALA LUMPUR (June 21): Sanichi Technology Bhd rose as much as 0.5 sen or 3.57% to 14.5 sen after it partnered with licensed Petroliam Nasional Bhd's (Petronas) vendor Petrowangsa Sdn Bhd to jointly bid for Petronas' oil storage tank terminal contracts in the oil and gas industry in Malaysia and the region.

The counter, which was the top active counter in the local bourse in the morning trade, gave up the gains and traded at 14 sen apiece, with 29 million shares changing hands as at 10.10am.

The precision mould and tooling designer and fabricator's share price has fallen 54.12% year to date.

The penny stock attracted the interest of investors since mid-May, with trading volume ranging between 1.08 million and 31.76 million shares.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday (June 20), Sanichi said the partnership with Petrowangsa was inked via a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form the alliance today.

Under the MoU, Petrowangsa will award, subcontract or nominate Sanichi as contractor, should it secure contracts in relation to its licences with Petronas, while Sanichi will provide mechanical engineering solutions to Petrowangsa.

Sanichi said the MoU is not expected to have immediate effect on its issued and paid-up share capital, or net assets and earnings per share for the financial year ending June 30, 2016 (FY16).