Noble

Noble: (S$0.455) Sharp fall may lead to deletion from FTSE ST Index
Noble slumped another 12.5% today, extending yesterday's 11.9% tumble on heavy volume, after SGX issued its routine trade caution on the counter.

As expected, the commodity trader responded that it was not aware of any information that could explain the sharp fall.

The company has been active in buying back its shares to shore up its share price over the past seven weeks, shelling out a total of $131m, or 14% of its cash hoard to mop up 191.8m shares in the open market.

This has been halted after Noble entered the blackout period yesterday. Accordingly to SGX listing guide, buybacks should not be conducted two weeks prior its quarterly earnings, expected to be filed on 13 Aug.

Following its share price plunge since Feb, its market cap has shrunk more than 62% to under $3b, putting it as the 45th largest listing on the SGX. This will put it at risk of being removed from the FTSE ST Index in the upcoming review in Sep.

Stocks on the reserve list are now larger than Noble, except for one. These are:
- UOL ($5.34b)
- Yangzijiang ($4.91b)
- CapitaLand Commerical Trust ($4.2b)
- Suntec REIT ($4.21b)
- Genting Hong Kong ($3b)