SGX queries SembMarine as stock extends rally

SINGAPORE Exchange (SGX) queried Sembcorp Marine (SembMarine) on its "unusual" trading activity on Wednesday.

After opening at S$1.585, SembMarine shares continued to rally towards S$1.635, up 6.5 Singapore cents or 4.14 per cent by 10.35am. By the end of the trading session, the counter settled at S$1.62, a 3.2 per cent increase from the day before. Some 7.6 million shares changed hands.

The shares had fallen by as much as 3.8 per cent at the opening on Tuesday, after SembMarine, the world's second-largest builder of oil rigs, on Monday posted its first loss in more than a decade for the fourth quarter.

But the shares closed 7.5 per cent or 11 Singapore cents higher at S$1.57 on Tuesday amid talk that Temasek Holdings - which owns 49.5 per cent of SembMarine's parent - could take the company private.

SembMarine reported a net loss of S$537 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2015, the first quarterly loss since it started reporting data in 2003. It took impairment charges and provisions of S$609 million for projects of client Sete Brasil Participacoes SA and others.

Meanwhile, its parent Sembcorp Industries is trading around S$2.56 a share, up five Singapore cents or 1.99 per cent. More than three million shares have changed hands.