Noble was down 6.5 cents at S$1.18 at 2:26 p.m. in Singapore after falling as much as 10 percent. Eighteen blocks of 200,000 or more shares were sold between S$1.165 and S$1.195, against a close yesterday of S$1.245, within the first 50 minutes. The volume of shares changing hands was approaching three times the daily average over the past three months.
China Investment Corp., the nation’s sovereign wealth fund and Noble’s second-largest shareholder, sold some of its 13.8 percent stake in the company last month. The sale was part of CIC’s portfolio re-balancing and the fund will continue to hold a 9.4% stake in Noble, the trading firm said.
Today’s share drop is unlikely to be related to changes in
the company’s operations or markets, according to Abhijit Attavar, an analyst with Jefferies Group LLC in Singapore.
“As far as we know, there’s no change in the company’s fundamentals,” Attavar said. “But their results are coming up soon and they’re always a wild card.”
Noble is due to report its third-quarter financial results after the market close on Nov. 7. Noble doesn’t comment on movements in its share price, spokesman Stephen Brown said by e-mail.
The company, which saw profit rise 5 percent last quarter on bigger volumes, may show weak margins on coal and iron ore sales, said Wei Bin, an analyst at Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte. in Singapore, who rates Noble hold.
“I’m still not positive on the stock,” he said.
Short interest in Noble’s U.S. traded securities jumped to 3.95 million shares from 261,382 shares as of Sept. 30, according to the OTC Bulletin Board data released by Market News Publishing INC on Oct. 27.
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