Singapore stock index rises; Fraser and Neave outperforms

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore shares rose on Monday after strong corporate earnings drove up Wall Street, with property and drinks conglomerate Fraser and Neave outperforming the market.

F&N shares rose as much as 3.3 per cent to $5.87, the highest in more than three months. The company said on Sunday it had received a conditional "eligibility-to-list" from the Singapore Exchange for the listing of its property arm, Frasers Centrepoint.

Frasers Centrepoint is expected to be one of the largest listed property companies on the Singapore bourse by market capitalisation, it said in a statement.

The benchmark Straits Times Index rose 0.3 per cent to 3,213.39, while the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.8 per cent higher on Monday.

The top two traded stocks by value were palm oil company Golden Agri-Resources and casino operator Genting Singapore. Golden Agri shares jumped as much as 2.7 per cent, while Genting advanced 2.3 per cent.

Shares of Hi-P International fell as much as 3.6 per cent after the electronic components supplier said it expects to miss the profit forecast it made earlier.

The company expects a similar profit in the third quarter of its 2013 fiscal year compared with a year earlier, instead of a higher profit that it previously forecast. This is mainly due to an inventory provision of around $4.4 million as a result of a decrease in orders from one of its existing customers.

Logistics provider Sky One Holdings Ltd plunged 91 per cent before trading in its shares was halted. The Singapore Exchange had queried the "substantial decrease" in the price of its shares on Monday.

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