Commodity plays, HPH Trust lift STI
IN A day where Asian stocks broadly rose, including Australian mining and resources stocks, commodity plays Wilmar International and Noble Group lifted Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index (STI), along with container port owner Hutchison Port Holdings Trust. Banks OCBC and DBS fell.
The STI closed at 3,426.22 points, up 7.05 points or 0.21 per cent, more or less flat for the week. Gainers outnumbered losers 242 to 183. About a billion shares worth S$1.2 billion were traded.
Hutchison topped trading volumes, rising three US cents or 4.5 per cent to US$0.70. The counter was actively traded this week after it unveiled a big impairment charge.
Palm oil firm Wilmar International was up eight cents or 2.5 per cent to S$3.30 after guiding for stable earnings in 2015. Net profit for its fourth quarter had increased 8.7 per cent from a year ago to US$401 million.
Keeping his "buy" call on the stock and a target price of S$3.69, Citi analyst Patrick Yau noted how the company is trading at its book value, which is "undemanding".
"While there continues to be challenges with low commodity prices, lower feedstock prices plus steady volume growth would help buttress its processing divisions (in oilseeds and palm, which is about 44 per cent of its profit pool) and help generate net profit growth in 2015," he said.
Also lifting up the index was commodity trader Noble Group, which added 6.5 cents, or 5.7 per cent, to S$1.205. Since falling below S$1 a share in the second half of January, the counter has recovered by around 20 per cent. The company is due to report its 2014 results after the close of trading on Feb 26.
UOB rose 17 cents to S$23.57 after announcing its full-year results before markets opened. The bank had reported fourth quarter net profit of S$786 million, up 1.7 per cent from a year ago.
Another company in the UOB group, developer UOL, continued to see active trading interest and added four cents to S$7.52. The company had been queried by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) over its trading activity after prices spiked on Wednesday.
STI stalwart Singtel topped value traded with more than 33 million shares traded amounting to S$140 million. Shares rose two cents to S$4.20, a new historical high. Its intraday high was S$4.22. The telco reported an 11 per cent increase in third-quarter net profit to S$970 million on Thursday before markets opened.
ComfortDelGro continued to decline for a second day after hitting an intraday high of S$3.26 on Wednesday. It closed down five cents to S$2.93.
The bus and taxi operator had reported 2014 net profit after trading hours that day of S$283.5 million, up 7.7 per cent from a year earlier, as revenue rose 8 per cent to S$4.1 billion. The counter's continued price rise on anticipation of a new bus contracting model and steady earnings growth had prompted some analyst downgrades on valuation concerns.
Elsewhere, in the region, Asian stocks mostly rose after a Ukraine peace and financing plan was agreed upon.
The day's performer was the S&P/ASX 200 Australian benchmark index, which rose 2.33 per cent to hit another post-financial crisis high.
