UOB, Keppel lead Singapore's rise

UOB, Keppel lead Singapore's rise
By Ovais Subhani
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Southeast Asian stocks rose on April 26 aided by a rally in the United States, with Singapore's index climbing on the back of gains in United Overseas Bank and Keppel Corp.

The Straits Times Index ended up 1.31%, recovering from losses in the past two sessions.

Indonesian stocks gained 1.48%, the Philippine index added 1.24%, and by 0910 GMT, Thai stocks were up 0.47%.

The Malaysian market was closed for a local holiday, and will reopen on April 27.

US stocks rose to an all-time high above 13,000 points on April 25 buoyed by strong earnings reports and reassuring news on the economy.

Dealers in Singapore said those US gains helped further boost investor sentiment in the city-state where the quarterly reporting season has seen a steady flow of healthy earnings.

UOB, Singapore's second-largest lender, rose 2.8% after staying flat in the last two sessions.

Keppel Corp, the world's top offshore oil rig builder, rose 3.8% after JP Morgan raised its share price target to S$23.24 (RM52.48) from S$20.56, citing the firm's favourable position to profit from demand for rigs. The stock closed at S$21.70.

"Keppel is still in a sweet spot, and is now leveraging operational efficiencies and scale," JP Morgan analysts Winnifred Heap and Kelvin Sam said in a note to investors.

"It is well positioned to ride the next wave of demand for ultra-deepwater drilling and production units through its suite of proprietary designs along with a proven track record in converting floating systems for the world's leading FPSO contractors such as SBM and Prosafe," the note said.

CapitaLand, Southeast Asia's biggest developer, rose 1.8% after its majority-owned subsidiary Ascott Group, up 0.6%, announced the launch of a private equity real estate fund for investment in China.

Ascott earlier announced a 77% drop in first-quarter net profit, but analysts such as Winston Liew of OCBC Investment Research said the revenue and distributable income was higher than the firm's own forecast.

"The performance was boosted by the inclusion of recent acquisitions in the Philippines and Vietnam," Liew said.

In Jakarta, Telkom Indonesia rose 2.9% and conglomerate Astra International rose 3.1%. Both are expected to release first-quarter results in the next few days.

Italian Thai, Thailand's biggest builder, rose 2% and rival Sino Thai Engineering was up 1.4% after the government said bidding for Bangkok mass transit lines would start in August.

Thai builder Ch Karnchang rose 2.1% after a subsidiary said it signed an agreement with the government of Laos to build a hydroelectric power plant there.

Gains in the Philippines were led by SM Investments, up 3.6%, after local media reported the conglomerate as saying it would spend about US$2 billion (RM6.84 billion) over the next five years to expand its shopping mall, retail and banking operations, as well as on an eco-tourism project south of Manila. -- Reuters