SINGAPORE (Mar 20): Singapore stocks defied the odds, trading higher even as most Asian stocks dropped, following declines in US shares, as materials and technology companies led losses.

As at 12:55 p.m., the Straits Times Index rose 20.66 points or 0.61% to 3,406.82. About 530 million shares valued at $632.4 million were traded on the broader market. Gainers outnumbered losers 160 to 146.

Noble Group  is the top active stock with 30.3 million stocks traded. The commodity trader is up 5 cents or 5.9% at 90 cents, helped by renewed confidence among investors after several large international investors said they had become substantial shareholders with more than a 5% interest each in the company.

SMRT Corp  fell 1.5 cents or 0.9% to $1.58 on 1.2 million shares traded while ComfortDelgro fell 1 cent to $2.92. Maybank Kim Eng says in the tender for the first package of bus routes for the western part of Singapore, SMRT, on which Maybank has a hold rating, put in the lowest bid at $93.7 million. This was 28% lower than the average $130.8 million price quoted by all eight bidders and 25.2% lower than its nearest competitor SBS Transit which is 75% owned by ComfortDelgro. SMRT' s low bid sets a daunting standard for other operators that " is negative for the sector," says Maybank Kim Eng analyst Derrick Heng.

Singtel rose 1 cent to $4.24 on 10.6 million shares traded. The telco was forced to apologise for a marketing campaign gone wrong which discredited rivals M1 and Starhub.

Keppel Corp  is trading at $8.69. The conglomerate said it has acquired 87.2% of subsidiary Keppel Land . Keppel Corp plans to take its developer unit private. Keppel Corp has extended a deadline to buy back remaining shares in Keppel Land until March 26.

TPV Technology, trading cum dividend, is up 6.6% or 2 cents to 32.5 cents after the manufacturer of flat LCD TV sets and computer monitors, swung back into the black in FY14 ended Dec, posting earnings of US$7.95 million ($5.4 million) from a loss of US$181.2 million a year ago.

 

SINGAPORE (Mar 19): The Singapore market, like most Asian equity markets outside Japan, rallied after comments by the US Federal Reserve cooled expectations of an early summer hike.

While the central bank opened the door for a rise from six years of zero percent rates, it lowered its forecasts for economic growth and inflation and stressed it would remain cautious before making any move.

At 12:50 pm, the benchmark Straits Times Index was up 0.46% or 15.56 points to 3,377.31. In the broader market, 526 million shares with a total value of $589 million were traded. Losers outnumber gainers by just 11 stocks.

Dividend and yield stocks gained on Thursday morning after US Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen opened the door to raising short-term interest rates by the middle of the year. Shares of Singtel rose 8 cents, or 1.9%, to $4.21. It was the second most actively traded stock, with 23.8 million shares changing hands.

Singapore-listed property trusts were also among the winners. CapitaCommercial Trust is up 2.35% at $1.74, Ascendas REIT is trading 2% higher at $2.50 and Suntec REIT is up 1.36% at $1.87 per unit. Keppel REIT and Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust are also trading 0.84% and 2.2% higher at $1.2 and $2.36, respectively.

Keppel Corp  is trading 0.5% or 5 cents higher at $8.67 a share as it acquired an 86.7% share in Keppel Land , which does property development. Keppel Corp plans to take its developer unit private. Keppel Corp has extended a deadline to buy back remaining shares in Keppel Land until March 26.

Blumont is down 10% to 0.9 cent on 15.2 million shares traded after it announced a rights cum warrants issue to raise about $27 million in net proceeds if the rights shares are fully subscribed. Seventy percent of the net proceeds raised will be used to make partial payment to its creditor Wintercrest Advisors LLC while the remaining 30% will be used for working capital purposes. Blumont last traded at 1 cent.

Noble Group , the top active, is down 1.5 cent to 85 cents on turnover of 40.1 million shares. Iceberg Research has threatened to issue a third report this week to raise questions about the commodity trader' s governance, debt and liquidity buffer. But fund manager Invesco Asset Management has picked up 17 million shares at an average price of 92.95 cents each over the past few days. " This is the first significant purchase reported by a professional fund house since the Iceberg saga broke for Noble,"   says Nicholas Teo, analyst at CMC.

 

SINGAPORE (Mar 18): Singapore investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of a US Federal Reserve meeting at which officials will assess the economy and debate the timing of the first US interest-rate increase since 2006.

" Markets are a bit nervous ahead of the meeting," Shane Oliver, Sydney-based global strategist at AMP Capital Investors told Bloomberg. " It' s possible that the market will be left none-the-wiser about whether the first rate hike will come in June or September, but we are undoubtedly getting closer."

As at 12:40 p.m., the benchmark Straits Times Index is down 1.4 points or 0.04% to 3,368.54.

In the broader market, 490.2 million shares with a value of $462.7 million changed hands. Gainers outnumbered losers 229 to 136.

DBS Group Holdings  is up 14 cents or 0.7% to $19.90 with 1.8 million shares traded. KGI Fraser Securities today initiated a coverage on the Singapore banking sector with an " overweight" rating. Its top pick is DBS with a " buy" call and target price of $22.38, which it said is the main beneficiary of rising interest rates. The research house also likes OCBC calling it a " buy" with target price of $11.63, given the bank' s potential synergies and cross-selling opportunities after its acquisition of Wing Hang Bank. OCBC is down 3 cents to $10.23.

Genting Singapore  is up 0.5% or 0.5 cent to 91.5 cents with 7.6 million shares traded. Maybank Kim Eng today upgraded the Resorts World Sentosa operator from &lsquo hold&rsquo to " buy" with $1.08 target price with catalysts from success in mass-market initiatives, including the development of Genting Hotel Jurong and its plans to expand into Japan and Jeju.

Singapore Airlines  rose 25 cents or 2.1% to $12.05. UOB Kay Hian is maintaining its " hold" recommendation on the stock with a target price of $12.60 after a rebound in SIA Cargo' s load factors improved overall performance. " We think the group' s valuations could expand as lower fuel prices improve margins and a strong performance in freight negates weak growth in the main airline," said the research house in a report today.

Civmec, the provider of heavy engineering and construction services to resources and infrastructure sectors in Australia, fell 22% or 11 cents to 39 cents on 665,000 shares traded after Singapore Exchange issued the stock with a " trade with caution" after it responded it wasn' t aware of any reasons that caused its share price to drop by 20.7% between March 13 and 17.

Xpress fell 8.3% or 0.1 cent to 1.1 cents with 470,000 shares traded. The printer of time-sensitive financial reports, recorded earnings of $214,000 in the 2Q15 ended January, a drop of 51.1% from a year ago. But Xpress still has negative cash and cash equivalents totalling $1.3 million as at end January. In 2Q, its operating activities also generated a negative cash flows of $253,000.

 

SINGAPORE (Mar 18): Singapore stocks may open lower this morning as investors turn their focus to the Federal Reserve' s two-day policy meeting, which is being closely watched for signs of when the US central bank will raise interest rates.

Wall Street stocks were broadly lower overnight, The Dow Jones industrial average fell 128.41 points, or 0.71%, to 17,849.01, the S& P 500 lost 6.99 points, or 0.34%, to 2,074.2, and the Nasdaq Composite added 7.93 points, or 0.16%, to 4,937.44.

The Singapore stock market on Tuesday failed to hang on to the gains it made in the earlier part of the day in response to Wall Street&rsquo s Monday rally. The benchmark Straits Times Index slipped 0.18% or 6.09 points to finish lower at 3,369.95. In the wider market, 1,372 million shares valued at $1.15 billion changed hands. Losers outnumbered gainers 288 to 177.

Here are some stocks that may move the market this morning:

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the republic' s de facto central bank, along with the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force, say they will start joint probes of market misconduct, such as insider trading and market manipulation. The two agencies, which previously conducted separate investigations, will decide whether violations are criminal or civil in nature.

Xpress Holdings , the printer of time-sensitive financial reports, recorded earnings of $214,000 in the 2Q15 ended January, a drop of 51.1% from a year ago. The group however is still has negative cash and cash equivalents totalling $1.3 million as at end January. In 2Q, its operating activities also generated a negative cash flows of $253,000. Xpress closed 7.7% lower at 1 cent yesterday.

Steel trader Novo Group saw losses before tax narrow to US$127,000 ($86,000) in 3Q15 ended Jan from $2.8 million from a year ago. Group revenue decreased 18.1% to US$68.2 million from US$83.3 million. Novo was placed on the Watch-List of the SGX on Sept 3 last year after posting three consecutive years of losses. The company says it is aware that it has 24 months to get itself off the Watch-List, failing which it would be delisted. Novo lost 9.1% to close at 20 cents yesterday.

XMH Holdings , the diesel engine provider in the marine and industrial sectors, posted earnings of $4.8 million that for the nine months ended Jan (9M15). This was 38.8% lower than the $7.9 million posted a year earlier. Group revenue came in at $68.1 million, 16.6% lower than a year ago, primarily due to the lower sales in the distribution and after-sales segments. XMH closed 4.4% lower at 22 cents yesterday.

 

SINGAPORE (Mar 17): The Singapore stock market failed to hang on to the gains it made in the earlier part of the day in response to Wall Street' s Monday rally.

Instead, investors chose to take profits ahead of this week' s US Federal Reserve meeting which could offer clues on the timeline for higher interest rates.

At the end of the day, the benchmark Straits Times Index slipped 0.18% or 6.09 points to finish lower at 3,369.95.

In the wider market, 1,372 million shares valued at $1.15 billion changed hands. Losers outnumbered gainers 288 to 177.

The decliners were broad-based and included of members of the Jardine group, Keppel Corp  and the banks. Jardine C& C and Jardine Strategic Holdings fell 11 cents and 19 US cents to end at $40.79 and US$63.35 respectively. Keppel lost 0.9% or 8 cents to $8.61 while UOB and OCBC  fell 12 cents and 4 cents to end at $22.58 and $10.26 respectively.

Singapore Airlines  fell 23 cents or 1.9% to $11.8 on volume of 1.02 million after revealing it is in talks to buy a stake in South Korea' s largest low-cost carrier Jeju Air Co, in a deal that would be the flag carrier' s first foray into North Asia where rising demand from Chinese passengers is fuelling growth.

Commodities trader Noble Group lost 3.2% or 3 cents to end at 90 cents with 54.2 million shares traded after Iceberg Research threatened to issue a third report this week to raise questions about the commodity trader' s governance, debt and liquidity buffer.

LifeBrandz  was also one of the top percentage losers. The operator and owner of pubs and niteclubs fell 33.3% to close at 0.2 cent with 2.2 million shares changing hands. The company recently decided to shut down its F& B establishments in Clarke Quay after its subsidiaries were unable to pay employees their salaries for the month of February.

Among the gainers, ParkwayLife REIT advanced 1 cent or 0.4% to $2.32 with 383,000 shares traded after announcing yesterday that its manager had acquired four nursing home and one group home in Japan for a total of $67.9 million. The acquisitions are expected to generate a net property yield of 6.6% and will be completed by the first quarter of 2015.

Boustead Group gained 0.3% or 0.5 cent to $1.625 with 470,000 shares traded after it announced last night that Boustead Projects had won a contract under the Boustead Development Partnership (BDP) to design, build and lease a property serving as an integrated maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hangar and office facility for a leading European aerospace corporation on a long-term lease. The contract raised the order book backlog of Boustead to over $411 million.

 

SINGAPORE (Mar 17): Singapore stocks were in positive territory at the halfway mark of the trading day as weak economic data in the US eased speculation the Federal Reserve will bring forward plans to raise interest rates.

Singapore' s export figures also came in worse than expected according to analysts, with non-oil domestic exports (NODX) fell in February by a sharp 9.7% from a year ago, following three consecutive months of increases.

The Straits Time Index rose 0.3% or 9.99 points at 3,386.03 at 1:01 p.m. The broader market saw a turnover of 712.6 million shares valued at $525.3 million. Gainers and losers were poised equally at 186 stocks.

Sinarmas Land  rose 3.5 cents to 74 cents on 2.4 million shares traded, despite being the stock being assigned a " trade with caution" by the Singapore Exchange assigned a " trade with caution" . Sinarmas said it was unaware of any reason that triggered a 17.8% drop in share price between March 12 and 16.

Commodities trader Noble Group  fell 0.5 cents to 92.5 cents with about 26 million shares changing hands after Iceberg Research said it would issue a third report this week to raise questions about the commodity trader' s governance, debt and liquidity buffer.

Shares of Singapore Airlines were trading 7 cents lower at $11.96 after the national carrier confirmed it has been in discussions over a stake in South Korea' s Jeju Air.

Tiger Air rose 0.5 cents to 33 cents with 10.7 million shares changing hands after OCBC Investment Research raised its target price for the stock on gains from fuel oil prices but kept its " sell" rating, noting that the recent run-up in the share price has been overdone.