STI up 0.4% to 3,152.41 as of 9:15 a.m.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.4% to 3,152.41 as of 9:15 a.m. Twenty-six stocks advanced, while two fell in benchmark equity index of 30 companies.

Shares on the measure trade at an average 15.3 times estimated earnings, compared with about 17.4 times at the beginning of the year, 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.

Commodity suppliers: The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index, which tracks prices of 19 commodities from copper to corn, gained 0.8% in New York yesterday, extending its three- day advance to 3%.

Noble Group (NOBL SP), a Hong Kong-based commodities supplier, gained 1.5% to $2.10. Olam International (OLAM SP), a Singapore-based supplier of agricultural commodities, increased 1% to $3.13.

Sembcorp Marine (SMM SP), the world’s second-biggest oil rig builder, climbed 1.4% to $5.06. The company said it won an order two build two jack-up rigs, valued at US$400 million ($525 million), from Noble Corp., the world’s third-largest deep-water oil and gas driller.

Sound Global (SGL SP), a provider of waste-water treatment services in China, rose 1.2% to 83 cents. The company said it appointed Jin Zhijun as its new chief executive officer.

Wilmar International (WIL SP), the world’s biggest palm-oil trader, dropped 1.9% to $5.81. The company said it will invest 889.2 million yuan ($176 million) in a joint venture with Kerry Properties (China) and Shangri-La China to develop a hotel in China’s Liaoning province.

“We believe that the market may take this announcement negatively,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts Patrick Tiah and Nikhil Bhandari wrote in a note to clients today. “This appears to be a sharp departure from Wilmar’s agri-processing core business and there may be concerns on management losing focus.”