Director buying rises but value sharply lower from week ago

THE buying rose for the first time in the past six weeks while there were no sales by directors based on filings on the Singapore Exchange from Oct 31 to Nov 4. A total of six companies recorded 11 insider purchases worth S$0.19 million. The number of firms and trades were up from the previous week's four companies and seven purchases. The buy value, however, was sharply lower from the previous week's acquisitions worth S$1.6 million.

Meanwhile, the buyback activity fell for the second straight week with three companies that posted eight repurchases worth S$1.05 million. The figures were sharply down from the previous week's seven firms, 24 trades and S$6.6 million.

There were several rare or first-time buys last week with insider purchases in Singapore eDevelopment, Epicentre Holdings and Union Steel Holdings and a substantial shareholder acquisition in BHG Retail Reit. Meanwhile, Kabouter Management recorded more buys in Ascendas India Trust at sharply higher than its previous acquisition prices. On the negative side, Sprucegrove Investment Management recorded its first sale in Venture Corporation since its initial filing in 2005.