ABERDEEN Asset Management Asia was very active last week with a purchase in City Developments and disposals in Petra Foods and Yanlord Land. There were also several significant corporate shareholder trades in the Sept 30-Oct 4 week with insider buys in Innopac Holdings, IEV Holdings and Neo Group. As for fund managers, FMR LLC made purchases in Sino Grandness Food and Matthews Capital in Ascendas India Trust.

Generally, the week's filings on Singapore Exchange showed a rebound in directors' buying while selling fell. A total of 14 companies recorded 22 purchases worth $9 million versus five firms with seven disposals worth $64.47 million. The number of companies and value on the buy side were up from the previous week's 11 firms and $4.58 million. The number of purchases were not far off from the previous week's 24 acquisitions.

On the sell side, the number of firms and trades were down from the previous week's eight companies and 14 disposals. The sell value was sharply up from the previous week's $4.2 million. The higher value was due to sales by non-executive director Yu Kebing in commercial vessels producer Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings of 55.2 million shares worth $61.8 million. The disposal was made after the stock rebounded by 39 per cent from 80.5 cents in July to his sale price on Sept 30 of $1.12 each.