Sapura Energy Bhd (SEB) saw 692.76 million shares changing hands, while 492.16 million shares in Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd were traded in the morning session.

Before lunch, SEB’s share price had jumped 77.8% or 3.5 sen to 8 sen per share. It settled at 4.5 sen at Friday’s closing. The market was closed for the Wesak Day holiday yesterday.

This is the highest the SEB share price has risen to since Dec 6, 2021.

Also in the morning session, the Serba Dinamik share price shot up 7 sen or 58.3% to 19 sen per share. Its last closing price was 12 sen.

The Serba Dinamik share price dropped to 6 sen — its lowest — on May 1.

Both companies have been in the news in recent weeks. SEB, an integrated oil and gas services company, reported an RM8.9 billion loss for the financial year ended Jan 31, 2022, the largest in the history of corporate Malaysia.

The company’s troubles and fate soon became political fodder, leading to a debate on whether or not the government should consider bailing it out.

The May 12 debate pitted Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim against former prime minister Najib Razak with no clear winner.

Serba Dinamik, which provides engineering services and solutions for O&G production platforms, was in the news for quite a different reason. The company and four of its senior executives initially faced charges of falsifying its accounting records.

However, the charges were subsequently dropped after the five parties paid a compound fine of RM3 million each, a move that drew a lot of criticisms.