Stocks to watch: Singtel, Ezra

THE following stocks could see increased trading on Wednesday following material announcements before the beginning of trading.

Telco Singtel announced its US$810 million purchase of cyber security firm Trustwave Holdings.

Offshore play Ezra Holdings announced a 99 per cent fall in net profit to US$138,000 from US$19.6 million for its second quarter ended Feb 28, 2015. Revenue was stable but costs had gone up. Some US$4.6 million of net profit was due to non-controlling interests.

Singapore's STI opens flat ahead of BoJ rate decision

THE Straits Times Index (STI) was down 0.33 point, or 0.01 per cent, to 3,465.29 points at 9.10am on Wednesday. This was after US stocks fell overnight, and ahead of a rate decision by the Bank of Japan.

Some 219.2 million shares were traded with a value of S$74.4 million. Gainers outnumbered losers 125 to 47.

Top stocks by value traded were blue chips DBS, UOB, Singtel, Keppel Corp and ComfortDelGro.

SGX daily share trading down by modest 0.2% in March

Daily share trading activity on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) eased in March from year-ago levels, while derivatives trading continued to grow.

The securities daily average value (SDAV) slipped by 0.2 per cent year-on-year to S$1.1 billion in March, according to data by SGX. The average traded volume of securities experienced a sharper fall, by 38.4 per cent, to 1.4 billion shares.

Turnover velocity, a measurement that is closely tracked by SGX and that reflects how often a share is traded on average, fell to 37 per cent from 40 per cent a year earlier.

The derivatives market had more excitement. Average daily trading volume in derivatives grew 46.2 per cent year-on-year in March to 678,126 contracts. A total of 3.3 million open-interest positions were left overnight in March, a 5 per cent year-on-year improvement.

The FTSE China A50 Index futures were a key contributor to growth, with March's 7 million traded contracts more than double the year-ago 2.5 million volume.

Stocks to watch: EMAS Offshore, KTL Global, Stratech, Ellipsiz

STOCKS to look out for on Tuesday early trading could include EMAS Offshore, KTL Global, Stratech and Ellipsiz.

EMAS Offshore Limited reported on Tuesday morning a net profit of US$9.7 million in the second quarter ended Feb 28, from US$4 million in the same quarter last year, thanks to foreign exchange gains and gain on disposal of an anchor handling tug (AHT). But revenue posted by the offshore marine company fell 10 per cent year on year to US$60.9 million due to weakness in both the shallow water anchor handling, towing and supply vessels (AHTS) and shallow water platform support vessels (PSV) segments.

KTL Global gave corporate updates following a review of its businesses. These include streamlining its internal and operating efficiencies that will involve a significant relocation of operations from Singapore to Johor, scaling up the value chain, deepening its presence in existing markets and entering new ones.

The Stratech Group, the new listing entity that emerged following the recently completed restructuring of Stratech Systems, said on Monday that it is eyeing overseas markets to drive growth. The group, which recently clinched a FOD (foreign object and debris) detection system contract for Hong Kong International Airport, also singled out the US as a potential growth market.

Trading interest could still continue for semiconductor testing firm Ellipsiz Ltd, which disclosed on Monday that its chief executive officer sold most of his stake to David Lum Kok Seng, the managing director of construction firm Lum Chang Holdings. The latter has become the company's largest shareholder with a 20.44 per cent stake; the stake of Ellipsiz CEO Chan Wai Leong fell from 19.79 per cent to 1.7 per cent.

Singapore's STI opens 13.49 points higher

SINGAPORE share prices opened higher on Tuesday, with the Straits Times Index up 13.49 points or 0.4 per cent to 3,466.4 as at 9.01am, following Wall Street's gains on Monday on easing concerns over Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

Top gainers in early morning trade by percentage gains included Asiatic, up 0.3 cent or 10.7 per cent at 3.1 cents; Ramba Energy, up two cents or 7.1 per cent at 30 cents; and Darco Water Tech, up 0.2 cent or 6.9 per cent at 3.1 cents. A total of 62.5 million shares worth S$35.7 million had changed hands as at 9.01am. Gainers outnumbered losers 120 to 40.