singapores straits times index closes higher despite global concerns 813472015

Bargain-hunting helped Singapore’s Straits Times Index to a positive close Tuesday, despite concerns such as Greece’s future in the Eurozone and the stock rout on Chinese share markets.

However, the overall market had a weak undertone given that both the FTSE ST Mid Cap and Small Cap Indices declined, and losers outnumbered gainers by a wide margin.

Noble Group Limited (SGX:N21) appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct a third party review of its valuation practices.

Indices and sectors

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 7.99 points or 0.24 per cent higher at 3,340.93, taking the year-to-date performance to -0.72 per cent.

The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index declined 0.23 per cent, while the FTSE ST Small Cap Index declined 0.24 per cent.

The Singapore Exchange traded a volume of 1,190.3 million shares valued at SG$989 million. Losers outnumbered gainers by 238/183.

Amongst the FTSE ST sectors, the bigger gainers were telecommunications (+1.12 per cent), oil and gas (+0.33 per cent), real estate investment trusts (+0.26 per cent) and financials (+0.25 per cent). Sectors that ended in negative territory included utilities (-2.56 per cent), technology (-2.41 per cent), healthcare (-1.02 per cent) and China top index (-0.92 per cent).

Stocks

Noble Group Limited (SGX:N21), which has been under fire for its accounting practices, has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to review its valuation policies, a move aimed to boost transparency of its accounting, according to TODAY. "In the interests of transparency, the board of directors of Noble Group, in consultation with Noble's senior management, has commissioned a third-party review of Mark to Market models and valuations," it said in a statement on Tuesday (Jul 7). The appointment of PwC was made by a newly established committee of four non-executive independent Noble board members and, according to a Noble spokeswoman, the review will take “weeks, not months”.

EMAS Offshore Ltd (SGX:UQ4) said it had won three charter contracts worth up to US$24 million (SG$32.5 million) and of an average duration of about 1.1 years. The group also recorded an after-tax profit for its third quarter of US$5.18 million – about 28 times the US$182,000 earnings it recorded in the prior year period. However, revenue was down 15 per cent year-on-year to US$59.24 million.

Triyards Holdings Ltd (SGX:RC5) has won orders for vessels worth US$175 million for two enhanced BH450 series lift boats. The company said net profit during the third quarter attributable to shareholders was SG$5.4 million on revenue of SG$63.9 million, according to Offshore Engineer.

Nightclub operator LifeBrandz Ltd (SGX:L20) said Tuesday that it had entered into preliminary discussions with a third-party regarding “a very substantial acquisition or reverse takeover,” and advised shareholders to be cautious while trading the company’s shares, given that there was no certainty the discussions would result in a successful transaction.

Economic news

Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said Tuesday that it will release the republic’s advance GDP estimates for the second quarter on Tuesday, July 14, at 8 AM, according to Channel News Asia. In the first quarter, the Singapore economy grew by 2.6 per cent year-on-year, compared to 2.1 per cent in the prior quarter. The government forecasts GDP growth for the full year at between two and four per cent.

Singapore’s Manpower Ministry has warned that the country might lose its competitive edge within the next decade if the present trend of wages outpacing the pace of growth in productivity gains continued. The Ministry’s data showed that except for the years 2004 and 2010, wage growth outpaced productivity gains in all other years during the 2004-2014 decade.

According to the Business Times, European leaders have given beleaguered Greece a final deadline of Sunday to present reform proposals, negotiate a new bailout deal and avoid an exit from the Euro.

Overnight, stocks closed well above their lows on Wall Street as commodity prices appeared to stabilise and investors hoped for a solution to the Greek debt crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 93 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 17,777. The S&P 500 index gained 13 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 2,081. The Nasdaq Composite Index lifted 6 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4,997.