THE buying rose after trading flat for three straight weeks while the selling among directors remained low based on filings on the exchange from April 4 to April 8. A total of 17 companies recorded 32 purchases worth S$1.01 million versus one firm with two disposals worth S$200,000. The number of companies and trades on the buying side were up from the previous week's 13 firms and 26 acquisitions. The buy value, however, was sharply down from the previous week's purchases worth S$3.25 million. On the selling side, the number of companies and trades were consistent with the previous week's one firm and two disposals. The sell value, on the other hand, was sharply down from the previous week's sales worth S$2.8 million.

Aside from directors, the buyback activity rose last week with 11 companies that posted 27 repurchases worth S$7.62 million. The figures were up from the previous week's eight firms, 21 trades and S$7.5 million.

There were several significant director and substantial shareholder trades last week. There were rare insider buys in Huationg Global Limited, iX Biopharma Ltd, InnoTek Limited and Mermaid Maritime Public Company Limited. On the substantial shareholders' front, there were more buys by a shareholder in PSL Holdings at a higher price. On the negative side, there were fund manager sales in Hyflux Limited, Golden Agri-Resources and HTL International.