Shares of palm oil refiner Mewah International <MEWI.SI> fell as much as 13% on their debut on jittery global markets, marking one of the weakest IPO performances in Singapore in recent months.

Mewah’s $277 million listing comes as an IPO boom sweeps across Asia, with more than two-thirds of the global volume in 2010 raised in the region, powered by strong economic growth.

Singapore expects a string of issues including a $1.3 billion listing of Mapletree Investments’s commercial trust and analysts said Mewah’s poor debut was unlikely to derail the rush of IPOs.

“Mewah’s IPO tanked. I think it’s somewhat sentiment-driven and also the fundamentals do play a part in it,” Terence Wong, co-head of research at DMG & Partners, said on Wednesday.

“I don’t see any broader impact on IPOs now but in times of either protracted weakness or bullishness, that would have an impact on the IPO,” Wong said.

IFR reported on Wednesday that Amtek Engineering had slashed the size of its Singapore IPO and will now raise a maximum of $299 million.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> has been a big underperformer in Southeast Asia this year, rising only about 8% versus a 45% surge in Indonesia <.JKSE> and a 34% jump in the Philippines market <.PSI>.

Asian shares fell on Wednesday and the euro hovered near a two-month low to the dollar as regional stocks caught up with a sharp sell-off after North Korea’s deadly shelling of a South Korean island and investors sought safety in the US currency.

By 9:50 a.m., Mewah shares traded at $1.0, 9.0% below their initial public offering price of S$1.10 in a market <.FTSTI> up 0.4%. More than 33 million shares were traded, making Mewah the fourth-most actively traded stock by volume on the Singapore exchange.

Mewah, which produces vegetable oil products for sale to wholesalers, retailers, and supermarkets such as Carrefour <CARR.PA>, plans to expand its refining capacities and boost its revenue by tapping fast-growing markets including China, where demand for edible oils and fats products is growing.

Shares in Wilmar <WLIL.SI>, the world’s biggest listed palm oil firm, and Golden Agri-Resources <GAGR.SI>, among the number of large palm oil firms listed in Singapore, traded higher.

With operations in Singapore and Malaysia, Mewa had priced its IPO below its indicative range of $1.25–$1.55.

“The subscription for the IPO wasn’t really fantastic and it was priced below its indicative range, which could also have acted against the stock too,” said Carey Wong, an investment analyst at OCBC Investment Research.

Shares of STX Offshore and Specialised Vessels (STX OSV) <STXO.SI>, a shipbuilder that is part of South Korea’s STX group, rose in its trading debut this month after raising $296 million.

Mewah says it is one of Asia’s biggest edible oils processing firms with a total refining capacity of 8,000 tonnes per day. The IPO was 1.9 times subscribed.

The palm oil processor, unlike plantation owners such as Golden Agri, may also see their margins squeezed by rising palm oil and input prices, Wong added. Mewah does not own plantations.

Credit Suisse was the sole global coordinator, bookrunner, underwriter and issue manager for Mewah’s IPO.

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