Singapore Stocks: Cosco, Singapore Exchange, Singapore Telecom

By Simeon Bennett and Chen Shiyin

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore's Straits Times Index declined 74.72, or 2.9 percent, to 2,495.95 at the 12:30 p.m. trading break, on course for its lowest since September 2006. Just one of the benchmark gauge's 30 constituents advanced.

The following companies rose or dropped in Singapore trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses.

Bank stocks: DBS Group Holdings Ltd. (DBS SP), the city's biggest bank, fell 40 cents, or 2.4 percent, to S$16.62, its fifth straight day of losses. United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB SP), Singapore's No. 2 bank, declined 66 cents, or 3.6 percent, to S$17.90. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC SP), Singapore's third-largest, lost 24 cents, or 3.1 percent, to S$7.45.

Financial stocks fell across Asia after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., once the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, said it intends to file for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be sold to Bank of America Corp.

Shipbuilders: Cosco Corp. Singapore Ltd. (COS SP), the shipbuilding and bulk unit of China's biggest shipping company, tumbled 14 cents, or 8.3 percent, to S$1.55, on course for its lowest since April 1999, on concern that slowing global economic growth will hurt demand for new vessels and bulk shipping. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd. (YZJ SP), a Chinese shipbuilder, tumbled 4 Singapore cents, or 6.9 percent, to 54 cents. The shares have both plunged 73 percent this year, the biggest declines on the Straits Times Index.

``Shipyards are cyclical stocks that will be affected by the global slowdown,'' said Daphne Roth, Singapore-based head of equity research in Asia at ABN Amro Private Bank, with about $30 billion of Asian assets. ``Cosco Singapore hasn't won any orders this year and with a lot of orders already contracted, there's concern about oversupply in 2009.''

Singapore Exchange Ltd. (SGX SP), the operator of the city- state's securities and derivatives markets, slumped 21 cents, or 3.4 percent, to S$5.91, sliding to the lowest since January 2007. Citigroup Inc. cut its share-price estimate by 27 percent to S$4.70 and reiterated its ``sell'' rating on the stock, saying a looming recession will weigh on turnover.

Singapore Petroleum Co. (SPC SP), the city-state's only publicly traded refiner and explorer, dropped 18 cents, or 4 percent, to S$4.37, poised for its lowest since March 2007. The company cut fuel prices at its service stations by 5 Singapore cents per liter, it said in a Sept. 12 statement after the close of trading.

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (ST SP), Southeast Asia's largest phone company, fell 12 cents, or 3.6 percent, to S$3.24, the biggest drag on the Straits Times Index. The company will review a decision of the Indonesian Supreme Court to uphold a ruling that Temasek Holdings Pte breached the nation's anti- monopoly laws before deciding its course of action, Singapore Telecommunications said.

The court upheld a ruling Sept. 12 by the competition regulator, which said Temasek breached antitrust laws by using indirect stakes in PT Telekomunikasi Selular, known as Telkomsel, and PT Indosat to fix prices.

To contact the reporters on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net; Chen Shiyin in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net.