REUTERS - Singapore shares were slightly down by midday on Monday, with investors waiting for the minutes of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, but Rowsley rose for the second day after a broker highlighted the potential upside for the stock.

The Straits Times Index was down 0.2 per cent at 3,192.25, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.5 per cent lower.

Shares of Golden Agri-Resources outperformed the market, rising as much as 2.9 per cent. The stock had wallowed at three-year lows after the company reported a 58 per cent fall in second-quarter net profit, hurt by lower palm oil prices.

Shares of Rowsley, Singapore billionaire Peter Lim's investment firm, rose as much as 4.4 per cent to $0.475. More than 27 million shares were traded, 1.4 times the average full-day volume over the past 30 days.

Rowsley said last week it had received an in-principle approval from the Singapore Exchange for its deals valued at $545 million, including the proposed acquisition of vacant land in Malaysia's Iskandar Development Region.

OCBC Investment Research said if the proposed deal succeeds, it estimated a value of $0.67 to $0.85 for each existing Rowsley share. If the deal fails, it valued each Rowsley share at around $0.034 - the book value per share as of end-June.

Energy exploration and production firm Mirach Energy was the second-highest traded stock by value on Monday. The shares rose as much as 10 per cent to $0.385, the highest since July 22, with nearly 70 million shares traded.

Mirach, which operates assets in Cambodia and South Sumatra in Indonesia, reported last week net profit of US$43,000 (S$54,600) for its second quarter versus a loss of US$1.4 million a year earlier.