Hot stock: Noble gains 4.65% in morning trading

NOBLE Group went into the opposite direction in a bearish market on Friday, gaining 4.65 per cent or two Singapore cents to S$0.45 as at 9.37am.

The commodity trader's bounce followed a note from Fitch Ratings on Thursday, which said the group's second-quarter results reflected a "stable financial profile".

Fitch also said it believed Noble would be able to generate positive cash flow from operations (CFO) in H2 2015 even though its second-quarter CFO remained negative.

"Fitch considers Noble's strong liquidity headroom an important factor supporting its ratings. At end-Q2 2015 Noble's available facilities amounted to US$7.7 billion compared with US$10.2 billion at end-Q1 2015. Committed available bank facilities were reduced to US$1.9 billion from US$3.5 billion in the same period. Management cut its bank facilities by US$1.8 billion in Q2 2015 as a result of the change to an asset-light business model following the Noble Agri stake sale and this will help cut its finance expenses," Fitch said in its note.

"Nevertheless, any signs showing weakening support from Noble's major banking partners will likely result in immediate negative rating action," it said.