Monday, August 6, 2012

STI rises to 1-year high; F&N at record

Singapore shares rose to their highest in more than a year after better-than-expected jobs data from the United States, while drinks and property firm Fraser and Neave was among the biggest gainers after a deal with Heineken.

The Straits Times Index gained as much as 1.1% to 3,086.18 points, the highest since Aug 4 last year. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 1.7% higher.

F&N shares jumped to a record on speculation that a break-up of the Singapore conglomerate will unlock more value after its board accepted Heineken's $4 billion offer for its stake in Asia Pacific Breweries (APB).

F&N shares rose as much as 4.9% to $8.55 on volume of nearly 6 million shares, 1.4 times the average full-day volume over the past 30 days. F&N was the top traded stock by value in the Singapore market.

Shares of DBS Group Holdings rose as much as 1.5% after Maybank Kim Eng and OCBC Investment Research raised their target prices on the bank following a 10% increase in its second-quarter result.

Shares of energy, water and marine group Sembcorp Industries gained as much as 1.5% to $5.37.

UOB Kay Hian upgraded the stock to 'buy' and raised its target price to $6.20 from $5.20, after increasing its 2012-2014 earnings forecasts by 3-7% on better-than-expected utilities earnings.

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