Buying by company directors falls for 5th week

THE buying fell for the fifth straight week while the selling among directors rebounded sharply based on filings on the Singapore Exchange in the first week of August. A total of six companies recorded eight purchases worth S$0.22 million versus four firms with eight disposals worth S$1.42 million. The number of companies on the buying side was unchanged from the previous week while the number of disposals and value were sharply down from the previous week's 13 acquisitions worth S$0.77 million. The sales, on the other hand, were sharply up from the previous week's one firm, one disposal and S$0.19 million.

Aside from directors, the buyback activity fell for the fifth straight week with nine companies that posted 28 repurchases worth S$17.1 million. The number of firms and trades were down from the previous week's 11 companies and 35 repurchases. The value, however, was sharply up from the previous week's turnover of S$11.6 million. The bulk of the significant trades last week were purchases with buybacks in Singapore Airlines, MTQ Corporation, Overseas Union Enterprise and Ban Leong Technologies.

On the directors' side, there were purchases buys in GKE Corporation and Hotel Grand Central. On the negative side, there was a first-time sale by the CEO of Yeo Hiap Seng following the fall in the share price.