Singapore stocks rose on Tuesday to their highest level in about a week, led by Singapore Exchange, Asia's third-largest listed bourse operator, which surged on expectations of strong quarterly earnings.
Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.82 percent, Malaysian shares gained 0.77 percent, Indonesian stocks climbed 0.88 percent, and by 0913 GMle Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh stock index rose 0.33 percent.
Singapore Exchange (SGX) hit a record high of S$10.90, up 7.9 percent, before pulling back slightly before the close. The stock still ended up 6.9 percent as investors bet that strong trading volumes in the bull market would lift the exchange's fiscal fourth-quarter profits, due on Friday.
"The trading volume is so high on small-cap stocks that people think it will translate back to earnings for Singapore Exchange," said a dealer at a local brokerage house.
Citigroup had said in a recent research report that SGX was on track to post a record S$100 million ($66 million) net profit for the fourth quarter ending June, thanks to a record average daily market turnover of S$2.4 billion in the period. But Citigroup kept its "sell" rating on the stock, citing the possibility that SGX may underperform if the market declines.
The city-state's benchmark index was also lifted by a 0.6 percent rise in Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) ahead of the first-quarter earnings of its Indian associate, Bharti Airtel, in which it has a 30.8 percent stake.
Bharti, which added 5.6 million mobile phone customers in the quarter ending June to lift its total to 42.7 million, is expected to double its net profit from the year-ago quarter when it announces results on Thursday.
Analysts such as Sundeep Bihani of Lehman Brothers have recently upgraded their price targets for SingTel after raising their estimates for Bharti's earnings. "We have raised our March 2008 price target on SingTel from S$3.9 to S$4.0 per share to reflect our revised estimates on Bharti Airtel," Bihani said.
In Kuala Lumpur, UEM World rose 8.5 percent. The construction firm signed a joint venture agreement with China Harbour & Engineering on Friday to build an $880 million bridge in Malaysia's Penang region.
UOB Kay Hian analyst Foong Choong Chen said the Penang bridge project was likely to contribute about 42 million ringgit to UEM's net profit each year in 2008 and 2009 and 5.4 million ringgit in 2010.
Malaysian property company RB Land shot up 15 percent on market expectations that its owner IJM Corp would put its property assets into RB Land as it focuses on core construction and engineering business.
In Bangkok, Aromatics and Rayong Refinery extended Monday's gains, which stemmed from the announcement of a merger deal to create the biggest refinery in Southeast Asia. Shares in Aromatics were up 9.2 percent and Rayong climbed 6 percent.
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