Directors' buying falls for first time in 3 weeks

THE buying fell for the first time in the past three weeks while there were no sales by directors based on filings on the Singapore Exchange during the holiday-shortened week of July 13 to 16. A total of 14 companies recorded 22 purchases worth S$1.15 million, sharply down from the previous week's five-day totals of 25 firms, 60 purchases and S$6.7 million.

The buyback activity plunged last week with nine companies that posted 20 repurchases worth S$0.87 million. The figures were sharply down from the previous week's 17 firms, 63 trades and S$29.6 million.

Despite low trading, there were several significant corporate shareholder trades last week. PEC Ltd bought back for the first time after the stock fell by 45 per cent. On the directors' side, there were buys in Raffles Education and Serial System. On the substantial sharehol…