Hot stock: Cosco Shipping rises 7.3% to 2.5-year high of S$0.585

SHARES in Cosco Shipping International (Singapore) Co rose by as much as 11.9 per cent on Tuesday morning to hit a 2.5-year high, continuing a week-long surge.

Cosco shares eventually closed at 58.5 Singapore cents, up four cents or 7.3 per cent, from its previous close on Monday, which itself represented a gain of S$0.105 or 23.9 per cent up on its Friday close.

The stock has gained 54 per cent over the past week, and 95 per cent over the past two weeks.

The stock's current rally occurred shortly after Chinese shipbuilder Yangzijiang Shipbuilding reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

That was also just after Cosco - which provides ship repairing, ship building, and marine engineering services primarily in China and Singapore - announced a S$488 million cash buyout at S$1.02 per share of Singapore-listed logistics firm Cogent Holdings which was announced separately alongside its third-quarter earnings on Nov 3.

That offer represented a 5.2 per cent upside for Cogent's shareholders based on the 97 Singapore cents price of the stock before the bid was announced.

Cogent's shares closed at S$1.01 on Tuesday.

Cosco's gains have also come on the heels of the company having divested its shipyard business and its plans to buy Indonesian shipping logistics company PT Ocean Global for S$14 million in a cash deal.

After markets closed yesterday, Cosco announced that Wang Kang Tian was appointed as its new chief financial officer (CFO), replacing Liang Jianfeng who had been its acting CFO.

Mr Wang was also appointed as Cosco's chief risk officer and will hold these positions concurrently.