Singapore shares were down at midday on Friday, pulling back after a rally in the first few trading sessions of the year, but stockbroker Kim Eng (KEHS.SI) outperformed the broader market after Malaysian lender Maybank made a bid for the firm.

Maybank (MBBM.KL), Malaysia’s largest lender by assets, is snapping up Kim Eng for $1.4 billion in a move to strengthen its grip on the regional stock broking industry and diversify the lender’s source of overseas revenue. 

 

Kim Eng shares rose as much as 13%. At midday, they were up 11.9% with 43.1 million shares changing hands at $3.02 each, below Maybank’s offer price of $3.10 per share, but well above its closing price of $2.70 on Wednesday. Kim Eng was suspended from trading on Thursday. 

 

The Straits Times Index (STI) <.FTSTI> was down 0.4%t, or 13.17 points, at 3,266.53. The total value of shares traded in the morning session was $1.15 billion, lower than $1.24 billion on Thursday.

 

The STI had risen 2.8% for the first four trading days of 2011, as many traders and fund managers were back from the year-end holidays and quickly took fresh positions.

 

“It’s been quiet the whole of December, and now there’s a return of fund managers from the holidays,” said Janice Chua, DBS Vickers head of research.

 

“But today there is a pull-back. The STI has been up four days in a row, so this is marginal profit-taking,” she added.