Singapore shares higher in early trade on Wall St rebound, COSCO leads gains

Singapore shares higher in early trade on Wall St rebound, COSCO leads gains

	Published : Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:10 By : Agencies Print this Story

SINGAPORE (Thomson Financial) - Singapore share prices were higher in early Thursday morning trade as Wall Street's overnight rebound encouraged bargain hunting.

COSCO (Corp) Singapore led the gains, with the stock hitting a new record high for the third time this week after the company said its 51 pct-owned unit, COSCO Shipyard Group, has won shipbuilding and ship conversion contracts worth 563 million US dollars.

At 9.50 am, the Straits Times Index was 41.85 points or 1.16 percent at 3,636.79.

Gainers beat losers, 430 to 111, with 229 stocks unchanged.

The volume traded was 828.32 million shares worth 696.86 million dollars.

'The rebound on Wall Street overnight has encouraged some bargain-hunting,' a dealer with a local brokerage said.

But investors are unlikely to chase up prices vigorously until they get confirmation of their expectations that second-quarter corporate earnings were strong.

The bulk of Singapore corporate earnings reports are due to be released later in July through August.

Overnight here, Singapore Press Holdings reported its financial third quarter to May results, which showed that the media group's net profit eased 8.5 percent year-on-year to 159.78 million Singapore dollars in the absence of exceptional gains it made the year before.

SPH gained 6 cents to 4.56 dollars.

Banking shares rebounded after yesterday's falls, with DBS Group up 20 cents at 23.70 dollars, United Overseas Bank up 30 cents at 22.70 dollars and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp up 10 cents at 9.50 dollars.

COSCO Singapore added 34 cents to 4.98 dollars, off an all-time high of 5.20 dollars.

Other shipyard stocks were higher, with Keppel Corp up 30 cents at 12.70 dollars, and SembCorp Marine up 15 cents at 5.35 dollars.

Container shipping and logistics company Neptune Orient Lines Ltd gained 20 cents to 5.85 dollars after it and its partners Hyundai Merchant Marine Co of South Korea, Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd of Japan and CMA CGM of France, along with Dubai port operator DP World, were awarded the rights to equip and run the first container terminal at Maasvlakte 2 in the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

Water treatment specialist Hyflux Ltd rose 15 cents to 3.12 dollars, off an 18-month high of 3.18 dollar, on hopes its earnings will start to grow in the second half of this year as new projects start to make contributions.

(1 US dollars = 1.51 Singapore dollars)

TFN.Singapore@thomson.com

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