Singapore Stocks-SingTel lifts index; upside seen at 2950 pts

Reuters - Tuesday, August 24Send IM Story Print


* Index up 0.6 percent, seen in 2900-2950 range near term
* SingTel rose 2 percent by midday

By Charmian Kok
SINGAPORE, Aug 24 - Singapore shares rose 0.61 percent on Tuesday, outperforming regional bourses like Hong Kong, as the benchmark index got a boost from Southeast Asia's largest telcom firm Singapore Telecommunications .

By the midday break the Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> was up 17.91 points at 2,943.90. More than 129.3 million shares had changed hands.

SingTel's shares rose 2 percent to S$3.00 as investors shrugged off previous concerns that a potential weakness in the Australian dollar resulting from Australia's political stalemate will hit its bottom line.

"There could be some bargain hunting going on as investors recover from yesterday's knee-jerk reaction to news of Australia's hung parliament. The actual impact on SingTel's bottomline isn't so great," said Carey Wong, an investment analyst at OCBC Investment Research.

SingTel's Australian subsidiary, SingTel Optus, accounted for about 19 percent of its bottom line for the fiscal year ended March 31, although it made up 64 percent of its revenue.

Shipbuilders like Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Cosco Corporation outperformed the broader index, as Cosco secured new contracts and Yangzijiang said it would buy a site in China that can be used to expand its yard. [ID:nSGE67N01B]

Shares of Yangzijiang rose as much as 2.6 percent on Tuesday to S$1.55, while Cosco rose 1.9 percent to S$1.58.

"I expect the STI to continue trading in a tight range (of 2,900-2,950) for the next two weeks. The problem is the earnings season has ended and there's no major economic data we expect in the coming week," said Tey Tze Ming, a market strategist at Saxo Capital Markets.