Over the five trading sessions from April 17 to April 24, institutions were net sellers of Singapore stocks, with net institutional outflow of S$14.0 million. This brings the net institutional outflow for the 2025 year to April 24 to S$1.79 billion. 

Institutional Flows 

Over the five trading sessions through to April 24, the stocks that saw the highest net institutional outflow were United Overseas Bank, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings, DBS Group Holdings, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, Venture Corporation, Sembcorp Industries, SATS, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Thai Beverage Public Co, and Wilmar International.

Meanwhile Singtel, Singapore Exchange, Singapore Tech Engineering, Singapore Airlines, ComfortDelGro Corporation, Genting Singapore, Sheng Siong Group, Jardine Matheson Holdings, City Developments, and Sinarmas Land led the net institutional inflow over the five sessions.

From a Sector perspective, Telecommunications and Industrials again experienced the highest net institutional inflow, while Financial Services and REITs saw the most net institutional outflow. 

Share Buybacks

The four sessions spanning April 21 to 24 saw 14 primary-listed companies conduct buybacks with a total consideration of S$20.7 million. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation led the consideration tally, with 702,600 shares bought back at an average price of S$16.37 a share.

The manager of ESR-Reit also bought back 5.0 million shares at S$0.21 a unit. 

InnoTek 

On April 21, InnoTek bought back 671,500 shares at an average price of S$0.37 per share. This was the first buyback conducted by the company since May 2013. 

In 2024, InnoTek made significant progress to strategically transform its business. The Group began manufacturing GPU server components, becoming a key supplier in a short time. They also expanded into new sectors like gaming machines, medical equipment, and EV components, enhancing resilience and long-term growth. InnoTek also moved up the value chain in its manufacturing capabilities, establishing Mansfield Surface Treatment (Dongguan) Co Ltd. to improve product quality and processing speed. The Group is also growing its presence in Thailand and Vietnam, exploring further expansion in Southeast Asia. 

For its FY24 (ended Dec 31), the Group achieved revenue of S$238.0 million, a 15.8 per cent increase from FY23 as nearly all its business segments secured higher sales volumes. The attributable net profit also increased by 23.4 per cent to S$5.8 million from S$4.7 million in FY23. The Group also noted that excluding exceptional items totaling S$6.0 million, the net profit would have been S$11.8 million, a significant improvement from S$6.3 million before exceptional items in FY23. 

Director Transactions

The five trading sessions spanning April 17 through to April 24 saw close to 70 director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for more than 30 primary-listed stocks. Directors or CEOs filed 16 acquisitions, and no disposals, while substantial shareholders filed four acquisitions and four disposals. This included director or CEO acquisitions in Accrelist, Audience Analytics, ESR-REIT, Ho Bee Land, Hyphens Pharma International, MindChamps PreSchool, OUE, Sinostar PEC Holdings, Southern Alliance Mining, Union Steel Holdings, and Valuetronics Holdings. 

Valuetronics

Between April 17 and 24, Valuetronics independent director Sandy Liu acquired 84,400 shares at S$0.607 per share. This followed the acquisition of 59,000 shares on April 15. Ms Liu was appointed to the board of the integrated electronic manufacturing services in July 2024. 

Sinostar PEC Holdings

Sinostar PEC Holdings executive chairman and CEO Li Xiang Ping continued to build his deemed interest, with 300,000 shares acquired at S$0.142 apiece. This increased his deemed interest in the China-based producer and supplier of downstream petrochemical products from 69.35 per cent to 69.36 per cent. This followed Mr Li increasing his deemed interest between 11 and 16 April. He has increased his deemed interest from 57.8 per cent at the end of 2019, mostly through a rights issue earlier in the year.  

Southern Alliance Mining 

On April 21, Southern Alliance Mining (SAM) managing director Pek Kok Sam acquired 105,600 shares at an average price of S$0.53 a share. This took his total interest in the Catalist-listed stock from 63.59 per cent to 63.61 per cent. His preceding acquisition was back in late 2024, with the bulk of shares bought at an average price of S$0.410 per share.

SAM is a high-grade iron ore producer based in Pahang. It is also diversifying into rare-earth mining and continuing gold exploration, emphasising adaptive growth strategies and responsible mining practices.

Dato’ Sri Pek oversees the Group’s business operations, focusing on quality analysis and control, safety and environmental standards, and site management. He is also a co-founder of SAM. The Group's primary mining asset, the Chaah Mine, is an open pit mine covering 225.7 hectares with established infrastructure, including fixed crushing plants, mobile crushers, and beneficiation plants, capable of producing 60,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrates monthly. 

Back in March, SAM announced its 1HFY25 (ended January 31) revenue declined by 23.8 per cent from 1HFY24 to RM70.3 million. This decline was attributed to weaker realised iron ore prices, influenced by global economic uncertainties and slowing demand from China’s steel industry. Despite the impact on revenue from softer iron ore prices, SAM maintained that it had increased its iron ore sales volumes, reflecting sustained market demand

On April 3, two years after SAM initially entered the rare-earth mining sector, it proposed further diversification into the sector by proposing the acquisition of a 40 per cent stake in MCRE Resources Sdn Bhd (MCRE). The total purchase consideration for the proposed MCRE acquisition is RM242.4 million. This amount includes RM219.0 million (approximately S$66.2 million) through the issuance of 147,982,380 new ordinary shares at S$0.4471 (approximately RM1.4799), representing 23.2 per cent of the enlarged share capital.

Dato’ Sri Pek highlighted that the MCRE acquisition will position the Group at the forefront of the rapidly growing global rare earth market. He added that the investment in MCRE’s operational Gerik Mine, which utilises environmentally friendly in-situ leaching technology, also underscores a commitment to sustainable resource development. In-situ leaching does not involve massive land clearing, unlike traditional open-pit mining, making it economical and eco-friendly.

Dato’ Sri Pek also noted that as global demand for rare earth metals continues to surge across critical industries—from renewable energy to advanced electronics—this acquisition strategically aligns the business with the future of technological innovation.

Union Steel Holdings

On April 21, Union Steel Holdings executive director Ang Yew Chye acquired 45,000 shares at an average price of S$0.510 per share. This increased his total interest in the metals, scaffolding, and engineering company from 12.22 per cent to 12.26 per cent. As a co-founder of the group, Mr Ang has been an executive director since August 2004. His preceding acquisition of 15,000 shares at S$0.515 apiece was on March 27, and he has increased his direct interest from 12.08 per cent when Union Steel Holdings reported its 1HFY25 (ended Dec 31) results on February 12. Its revenue for 1HFY25 increased by 9.5 per cent to S$58.6 million, driven by stronger performances in the Metals and Engineering segments, despite a lower contribution from the Scaffolding segment. Cost of sales also increased 15.3 per cent while administrative expenses rose by 10.7 per cent, or S$0.9 million, to S$9.3 million in 1HFY25. This saw the attributable net profit decline 12.2% from 1HFY24 to S$6.2 million in 1HFY25. Looking forward, management remains cautiously optimistic about steel leasing and logistics services. They are monitoring increased competition and exploring measures to maintain operational efficiency in the scaffolding segment. Additionally, they hold an optimistic outlook for the near-term prospects of the Engineering segment.

Zixin Group

On April 17, Thomas Clive Khoo increased his substantial shareholding in Zixin Group which is now above 11 per cent. He emerged as a substantial shareholder in June 2024, then gradually built his direct interest to above 10 per cent in late October 2024. At the same time the share price of Zixin increased from S$0.018 in June 2024 to S$0.028 in October 2024 and was trading at S$0.027 on April 17. 

Zixin is a biotech-focused sweet potato integrated circular economy industrial value chain operator in China. On April 1, Zixin announced that it has achieved a breakthrough in the production of sweet potato chips and fries snack products by implementing a specific modification to its production process, which involves the meticulous selection of premium-quality sweet potato varieties, and the use of VF vacuum low-temperature freshness-locking technology.

Inside Insights is a weekly column on The Business Times, read the original version.

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