Singapore-listed commodities stocks were down in morning trade on Wednesday after Wilmar International <WLIL.SI>, the world’s largest listed palm oil firm, posted worse-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

At 0313 GMT, Wilmar shares fell 5.5% at $6.50 on a volume of 21 million shares.

 

Olam International <OLAM.SI> retreated 2.4% at $3.30 with 5.8 million shares changing hands. Golden Agri-Resources was down 1.3% at $0.76 on a volume of 17.7 million shares.

 

“These stocks have recently gone up a lot, so after looking at Wilmar’s results, investors are taking some profit in case the other firms also have lower-than-expected results,” said a local trader.

 

Wilmar earned US$259 million ($333.8 million) in the quarter ended September, down from US$653 million a year ago when it made an exceptional gain of US$167 million from the sale of new shares in its China unit.

 

However, commodities firm Noble Group <NOBG> bucked the trend, with its shares rising as much as 2.3% after it said its third-quarter net profit rose 19%, helped by contributions from new businesses.

 

Noble shares were up 1.9% at $2.17 on a volume of 26.9 million shares.