Singapore shares rose, with rigbuilder Sembcorp Marine up 4.8 percent after a broker raised its price target on expectations of improved earnings in the second half.
The benchmark Straits Times Index gained 1.1 percent to 2,836.9 points and traded near the day's high of 2,839 after falling in the past four sessions. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose about 0.9 percent.
Sembcorp was the biggest gainer after OCBC Investment Research increased its target price to S$5.71 from S$5.13. It maintained its buy rating.
Among small-caps, Dyna-Mac Holding, which provides services to the oil and gas sector, jumped 6.6 percent to S$0.40 after it secured four orders for a provisional S$43 million. Nearly 7 million shares were traded, six times the average daily volume traded over the past 30 days.
1440 (0640 GMT)
(Reporting by Leonard How in Singapore; leonard.how@thomsonreuters.com)
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11:38 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-SPH a top defensive play
Macquarie Equities Research said Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is one of the best picks in the Singapore market because of its low valuation and expected dividend yield of 6.6 percent.
Macquarie, which has an outperform rating on SPH and a 12-month price target of S$4.24, said that after stripping out the firm's mall business, its monopoly media business is valued at an "unjustifiably low" 8.6 times price-earnings.
It added SPH's dividend is sustainable because of low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.3 and robust cash flows of S$328 million.
SPH shares were last traded at S$3.80, an increase of 0.26 percent. The stock has been range-bound between S$3.50 and S$4.20 since 2009, Macquarie said.
1129 (0329 GMT)
(Reporting by Kevin Lim in Singapore; kevin.lim@thomsonreuters.com)
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08:58 STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-OCBC raises Sembcorp Marine target
OCBC Investment Research raised its target price on Singapore's Sembcorp Marine Ltd, the world's second-largest rig builder, to S$5.71 from S$5.13 and maintained its buy rating.
Sembcorp shares closed at S$4.40 on Tuesday and had risen 15 percent so far this year, compared to a 6 percent gain in the broader Straits Times Index.
Sembcorp's share price has underperformed its rival Keppel Corp Ltd since late February, dropping by about 13.9 percent versus Keppel's 8.7 percent fall, OCBC said.
OCBC cited Sembcorp's disappointing first-quarter earnings, risk aversion which affected the higher-beta stock, and a recovery in sentiment for property stocks that bolstered Keppel which has property arm Keppel Land.
OCBC said this may reverse in the coming months as it still holds a positive view on the premium offshore rig market, Sembcorp is likely to catch up in orders and the company's earnings are expected to pick up in the second half of 2012.
"Enquiries for newbuild rigs remain healthy as major oil companies take a long-term view on oil prices in their capital expenditure plans and hence are much less affected by short-term fluctuations in oil prices," OCBC said.
It added that Sembcorp's net order book of S$7.4 billion ($5.8 billion) provides good earnings visibility and defensiveness during an uncertain global economy.
0854 (0054 GMT)
(Reporting by Eveline Danubrata in Singapore; eveline.danubrata@thomsonreuters.com) ($1 = 1.2803 Singapore dollars)
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