STI rebounds; director acquisition to disposal ratio at four to one

THE five trading sessions spanning Dec 8 to 14 saw the Straits Times Index (STI) gain 1.4 per cent. This brought the STI's dividend-inclusive return for the year through to Dec 14 to 23.0 per cent, compared to an average 18.3 per cent return for the benchmarks of Japan, Hong Kong and Australia.

There were 15 stocks that conducted share buybacks over the five sessions with a total consideration of S$13.3 million, similar to the S$13.0 million in buybacks over the preceding five sessions.

OCBC and Bumitama Agri led the buyback tally, the former accounting for S$7.5 million in buybacks. From the start date of the current mandate on April 28, OCBC has bought back 16.56 million shares, which is approximately 0.4 per cent of its issued shares. This is already more shares than OCBC bought back in its previous 12-month mandate which totalled 9.25 million shares.