Strong start by buyers in New Year; sellers quiet

BUYERS got off to a strong start in the New Year with 13 companies that recorded 35 director purchases worth S$10.5 million based on filings on the Exchange from Jan 5 to 9. The figures were consistent with the previous week's four-day totals of 11 firms, 25 purchases and S$11.3 million.

Sellers, on the other hand, were quiet with only one firm that recorded two disposals worth S$5 million. The figures were down from the previous week's two companies, four disposals and S$5.2 million. Aside from directors, the buyback activity was high last week with 16 companies that posted 57 repurchases worth S$24.5 million. The number of firms was unchanged but the number of trades and value was nearly double the previous week's 30 repurchases worth S$12.4 million.

With buyers that dominated the trading, the bulk of the significant trades were purchases last week with buybacks in Hyflux Limited, Raffles Education, Global Invacom Group and ST Engineering. On the directors' side, there were insider buys in Avi-Tech Electronics, Heeton Holdings and Swissco Holdings. On the institutional shareholders' front, there were purchases in Ascendas India Trust and Singapore Reinsurance Corporation.