THE bottom for exploration and production spending is near, Pareto Securities proclaimed in an August research note drawing from its annual E&P survey with oil and gas companies. Going by the adage of "buy low, sell high", investors taking on the Pareto hint should have started bottom-fishing for bargain offshore & marine (O&M) stocks. Yet this has not happened and Singapore stocks that have sunk amid the protracted slump in the sector, especially the small- to mid-cap counters, are still drifting close to their 52-week lows.

Many in the market will be quick to blame the selloff inflicting most O&M counters on Swiber Holdings' now aborted winding-up petition. This may be so but it also has to be noted that capital-raising exercises even before the Swiber fallout, such as Ezion Holdings' rights issue, have been priced at steep discounts.

In addition to a lacklustre equity market, Singapore-listed O&M counters also face the squeeze in the debt market while the bond market here is widely considered off limits after the Swiber debacle.