Rare director purchases in Micro-Mechanics, Matex

THE buying remained low while the selling among directors plunged based on filings on the Exchange during the holiday-shortened week of May 3 to 6. A total of 6 companies recorded 9 purchases worth S$0.56 million versus one firm with one disposal worth S$0.01 million. The buy figures were not far off from the previous week's 5-day totals of 5 companies, 9 purchases and S$0.48 million. The sales, on the other hand, were sharply down from the previous week's 4 firms, 4 disposals and S$0.63 million.

Meanwhile, the buyback activity fell with only 3 companies that posted 8 repurchases worth S$7.22 million. The number of firms and trades were down from the previous week's 5 companies and 12 transactions. The value, however, was sharply up from the previous week's turnover of S$0.24 million. The huge buy value, however, was mainly due to buybacks by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) worth S$5.1 million.

There were only a few significant corporate shareholder filings last week with buybacks in OCBC, Singapore Exchange and Venture Corporation. On the directors' side, there were rare director purchases in Micro-Mechanics Holdings and Matex International. On the funds' side, there were sales in Hyflux Limited and City Developments.