High buyback for 4th week running

THE buying surged while the selling among directors remained low, based on filings on Singapore Exchange in the second week of December. Buyers outnumbered sellers with 18 companies that recorded 37 purchases worth $18.78 million versus a paltry three firms with four disposals worth $0.046 million. The buy figures were up sharply from the previous week's 11 companies, 27 purchases and $3.35 million. Sales, on the other hand, were consistent with the previous week's low totals of three firms, six disposals and $0.62 million.

Meanwhile, the buyback activity was high for the fourth straight week with 11 firms that posted 40 repurchases worth $26.3 million. The number of companies and trades were consistent with the previous week's 11 firms and 36 transactions. The value, however, was up sharply from the previous week's $10.5 million turnover.

There were several significant corporate shareholder trades with buybacks in CapitaLand, Singapore Press Holdings and Technics Oil & Gas. On the directors' side, there were first-time purchases by high-level executives of Del Monte Pacific, Far East Hospitality Trust and Xyec Holdings. Besides these three stocks, there was also a rare acquisition by the chairman of Haw Par Corporation last week. There were also fund manager purchases in ASL Marine and Indiabulls Properties Investment Trust.