Hot stock: Noble Group gains 2% in wake of more share buyback news

THE price of Noble Group shares rose 2 per cent on Thursday in the wake of more share buyback news. The counter had gained 1.5 Singapore cents to 73 Singapore cents as at 10.52am, with 15.4 million shares changing hands.

The commodity trader had said on Thursday before the market opened that it had bought 14.45 million of its own shares at S$0.7178 apiece, for a total consideration of S$10.40 million.

On Wednesday, it had also announced a share buyback of 14 million shares at S$0.69445 apiece for a total consideration of S$9.75 million.

Noble now holds 134.16 million of its own shares, equivalent to 1.99 per cent of equity by way of market acquisition.

In a report issued after Noble's share buyback announcement on Wednesday, OCBC Investment Research's Carey Wong wrote: "In light of the recent share buybacks, we believe that the share price will remain supported for now. As such, we bump up our fair value from S$0.61 to S$0.69, now based on 9x FY2015F earning per share (versus 8x previously)."

"But as the medium-term outlook remains somewhat muted, we retain our "hold" rating on the stock," he added.