Apr 14: SPH, Cosco, Hyflux, Keppel Corp., SIA

Singapore’s Straits Times Index climbed 1.1% to 3,172.08 at the close. Eight stocks gained for each that fell in the benchmark index of 30 companies.

Shares on the measure trade at an average 14.1 times estimated earnings, compared with about 15.6 times at the end of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The following shares were among the most active in the market. Stock symbols are in parentheses after the company name.

Transportation companies: Oil traded near a two-week low in New York as US stockpiles increased. Neptune Orient Lines (NOL SP), Southeast Asia’s biggest container carrier, increased 3.1% to $2.01. Singapore Airlines (SIA SP), the world’s second-largest carrier by market value, advanced 4.9% to $14.10.

Phone companies: Mobile phone subscriptions increased to 7.32 million in February from 7.3 million in January, according to data from the InfoComm Development Authority. Singapore Telecommunications (ST SP), Southeast Asia’s biggest phone company, gained 1.7% to $3.06. StarHub (STH SP), Singapore’s second-largest phone company, rose 0.4% to $2.81. M1 (M1 SP), the nation’s smallest phone company, increased 0.8% to $2.40.

Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Industrial REIT (SSREIT): The first Shariah-compliant trust to be listed in Singapore said it appointed Tan Chiew Kian as chief financial officer to replace Eric Michael Peter Pascal, who has resigned. Sabana was unchanged at 93 cents.

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH SP): The biggest newspaper publisher in the city-state said second-quarter net income declined 33.5% to $75.4 million from a year earlier. The stock gained 0.5% to $3.98.

Cosco Corp. Singapore (COS SP), a China-based shipbuilder, increased 3.6% to $2.32. The company said a unit won a contract, valued at US$66 million ($83.9 million), to build a drilling rig for Norway’s Seadrill.

Hyflux (HYF SP), Singapore’s biggest public traded water treatment company, rose 1.4% to $2.19. The company said it plans to sell up to $200 million of 6% perpetual Class A preference shares, callable at the option of the company in 2018.

Keppel Corp. (KEP SP), the world’s biggest builder of oil platforms, gained 0.8% to $12.60. The company said its offshore and marine business has won orders worth $240 million from international customers.

Lian Beng Group (LBG SP), a construction company, climbed 2.8% to 37 cents. The company said net profit more than doubled to $36.6 million in the nine months ended February.