Stocks to watch: Noble, SMRT, Singtel, Tee International

STOCKS that could come under the spotlight on Friday include Noble Group, SMRT, Singtel and Tee International.

Noble Group on Friday morning issued a line-by-line rebuttal of allegations raised by Muddy Waters, "categorically rejecting their allegations as inaccurate, unreliable and misleading". Its rebuttal came in the wake of a fresh attack by US short-seller Muddy Waters, just two months after anonymous group Iceberg Research accused Noble of alleged accounting malpractices.

The stock had plunged to as low as S$0.84 on Thursday before ending the day at S$0.86, down 5.5 per cent.

Tee International reported on Thursday a 76.5 per cent plunge in third-quarter net profit for the period ended Feb 28 to to S$133,000, after higher costs outpaced gains in revenue. Its revenue rose 15.5 per cent to S$43.1 million due to higher revenue recognised for ongoing engineering projects.

SMRT said on Thursday late night that subsidiary Singapore Rail Engineering (SRE) and Faiveley Transport, a global manufacturer and supplier of railway equipment, have entered into a joint venture agreement to market and supply maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for rolling stock components in South-east Asia. The scope of the agreement covers the region except for Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Singtel unveiled changes on Friday morning to sharpen its digital strategy and refreshed its leadership team. It said it will focus on three key businesses in digital life - digital marketing (Amobee), regional premium video (HOOQ) and advanced analytics and intelligence capabilities (DataSpark). It also announced a new CEO for Group Digital Life - Samba Natarajan, currently managing director of Digital Enterprise - among other leadership changes.

On Wednesday, Singtel announced a 98 per cent stake acquisition in US-based cyber security company Trustwave for US$810 million - its biggest acquisition outside the telecoms segment so far.